RUNDU - The country representative of UNESCO in Namibia Dr Jean-Pierre IIboudo says there is a need to formulate new strategies to motivate young people go back and cultivate crop fields.

IIboudo said despite the increase in new information technologies, one cannot deny the fact the primary agricultural sector remains the engine for economic development, and that is why there’s a need to invest more in this sector and transform it into the more viable and sustainable sector that can attract young people to come back to agriculture sector. Iiboudo, a representative of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to Namibia made the remarks in a statement he delivered during the opening of the Food Conference held in Rundu on Wednesday that discussed food security and crop production.

The conference was a precursor to the three-day Food Expo which will be held in Rundu starting from tomorrow with the theme - Food Security for a Healthy Nation.

“To move from these wrong perceptions that development is something that comes from somewhere else and that our hands needs to be clean in air-conditioned office, not knowing that dirty hands make money. It is all about re-introducing the idea of cultivating mahangu, it is all about giving the people the power to produce their own food and become food secure and economic independent,” said the UNESCO executive. “We need to convince and encourage the people at grassroots level by using participatory methodology called Farmer Field School, a well-known and scientifically proven extension tool conceived and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations,” he 
added.