Youth can be defined as the group of people who are between childhood and adulthood or maturity. According to United Nation’s General Assembly, “Youth are the persons falling between the ages of 15 and 24 years inclusive”. It can also be said that someone who is under 35 years old is still considered within the catergory of youth but this description depends on the nation’s policy of defining the term for youth. Under the new policy, Myanmar’s youths are defined as the citizens between the ages of 15 and 35 years. The appearance, freshness, vigor and spirit are the characteristics that can be taken into account when defining youth. As youths play the important role of the country, the nation thinks of youth as future leaders and the prosperity and wealth of the nation is on their hands. According to its very nature, youths prefer adventure and they want to explore something new and also prefer challenges. Therefore, it can be said that they will be filled with tremendous and towering ambitions. Youths try to improve their abilities and they also want to show their talents and performances. If they have no chance to show their talents for this kind of opportunities, the nation will have a great waste of human resources for development.
As the youth is the most important role in today’s time, they have never ever underplayed themselves. They should believe themselves to do new things for the nation’s development. Thus, they need confidence to overcome challenges and difficulties while creating new things. Today’s youth are creative and they have a lot of ideas to handle and solve difficult situations and problems. In our country, youths have the power to unite individuals in the various ethnic groups and nationalities.
Agriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization; with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants (i.e. crops) creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. If the youth are involved in the ongoing growth process, they need to engage with their basic personal and social needs to be safe, feel cared for, be valued, be useful, be spiritually grounded, and to build skills and competencies that allow them to function and contribute in their daily lives. Agriculture needs to address these complex problems by focusing resources on youth development needs. High school agriculture, and related agricultural literacy programs, guidance counselors, science teachers, parents, and policy-makers are initials for positive image of agriculture to communicate young people for reaching and creating a larger pool of youth.
Agricultural production is very important for our nation and it is single largest employer for the country. According to the World Bank indicator, employment in agriculture in Myanmar was reported at 49.93 % in 2017. With a world population that is growing exponentially, it is estimated that we will need to produce 70% percent more food to keep up with the growing demand. Feeding the world will definitely be a daunting task, with the world population projected to swell to over 9 billion people in the next 30 years.
The agricultural education system in Myanmar includes three universities, all under different Ministries and focused on different segments of the agricultural sector. The Yezin Agricultural University (YAU) and the University of Veterinary Science (UVS) are under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI). YAU covers crop sciences and offers some courses in animal science and fisheries. UVS covers veterinary sciences and fisheries. The University of Forestry (UOF) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) specializes in issues of land management, environment and forestry. These universities are the principal agricultural agencies of higher education in Myanmar. The goals of the universities are to educate students to attain high standard in agricultural sciences, and generate well qualified agriculturists for the country. The missions are to provide education and develop human resources for increased production through green growth, to provide career and business opportunities for the graduates who are well qualified and to contribute the nation through research and education. In addition to these degree-conferring institutions, seven State Agricultural Institutes (SAI) under the MOALI offer the agricultural education diploma program for high school graduates.
By: Joselito S. Villen |Teacher I|New San Jose Dinalupihan, Bataan
