The founder of Eyabantu Development Foundation, Melinkqubo Ndabokutya, from Mkhathazo location in Elliotdale, is planning to promote agriculture by educating youth in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape to take it seriously.
He said he started this foundation last year after he saw that a lot of young people were undermining this field, even though some of them were unemployed.
He said he also wanted to use sport to teach them about the importance of agriculture.
“I have sponsored events with the aim of assisting and making things easy for me to reach young people. Among the events that I had sponsored was a sports tournament that was hosted by the former Mthatha Bucks player, Mongi Rula, which was held in September in Flagstaff,” said Ndabokutya.
He added that he had also sponsored the Nkanya Youth Sport Festival, which was held in Elliotdale, last month.
He said these events encouraged the youth to stay away from alcohol and drug abuse.
“I love agriculture to the extent that I want to make sure that young people embark on careers in commercial agriculture. I know that they think agriculture is boring but, should they learn more about primary level, agro processing, marketing and logistics, I am sure they would change their minds.
“I want to make sure that they understand this part so that they could change their minds about land,” said Ndabokutya. He added that each time he hosts a tournament, he preaches about the importance of ploughing.
He also hosted a Christmas party with the aim of showing love to the young ones from his area in Elliotdale. Ndabokutya added that all these events were self-funded.
Organiser for youth in agriculture and rural development in the OR Tambo District Municipality, Boniwe Mgqalelo, said this initiative would assist in overcoming the unemployment problem in the country.
She said she had a diploma in internal auditing but she had decided to join agriculture, due to the lack of opportunities in the auditing profession.
“I am now proud of myself because I am in love with farming, and I never thought that one day I would get this far. This shows that if young people could work hard, there could be a change in our society,” said Mgqalelo.
