Providing Agribusiness Training for Youth and Women FarmersBy Juliet Katoba, Zambia At the university, the founders of PAAZ had studied the decline of agricultural productivity since the liberalization of the Zambian economy in 1992, which meant that the government would no longer set prices for farmers and would withdraw completely from agricultural marketing. It also meant that the government would withdraw subsidies and credit for the production of the major traditional crop—maize. As a result, 90 percent of the farmers, who were solely dependent on maize production, would now need to learn how to source their own inputs, price their produce, and identify markets, if they were to stay in business. Since then, poverty levels in rural households and rural urban drift have been on the increase. It is against this background that PAAZ was formed with the following objectives:
These are PAAZ's achievements so far:
For questions or comments, contact mosaic@edc.org.
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In
1998, a group of final-year students in the School of Agriculture
at
the University of Zambia launched a new organization to help
future farmers—and particularly women—adjust to
the changing political and economic climate in their country.
The mission
of the Potential
Agribusiness Association of Zambia (PAAZ) is to promote agriculture
as a business, rather than just a way of life among small-scale
or traditional farmers. The organization provides training
in entrepreneurship and use of the Internet to women and youth
whose livelihoods depend
entirely on farming.
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Essays from Young Entrepreneurs and Leaders |
