SA Canegrowers promotes agriculture as a career for rural matriculants
With more than 65% of South Africa’s young people unemployed, SA Canegrowers’ field staff are hard at work promoting agriculture as a career option for school leavers.
The organisation offers a range of training opportunities for rural sugarcane growers, which includes an internship programme for 10 agriculture graduates each year.
Once the youngsters are selected they spend a year working for commercial farmers. The longterm view is to assist the interns to either find employment on the commercial farm where they were based or be able to set up their own sugarcane growing operations.
Sam Khanyile – the SA Canegrowers Agriculture Business Advisor for the Amatikulu region – who visited the Ingobamakhosi High School in the region this week – said it was critical that school leavers were educated on the opportunities available to young people in the agricultural sector and in particular the sugarcane industry.
“We visit three schools-a-year. Our aim is to motivate the school children to consider agriculture as a profession once they leave school. If more youngsters choose agriculture as a career not only will they find it easier to become financially self-sufficient and food secure, but it also has an impact on the increasingly high rate of urbanisation in the country,” she said.
