THE clamor of the younger generation to learn more about agriculture had been apparent for the past three years, said Davao Agri Trade Expo (DATE) 2018 committee chair John Tria.
Over the years, farmers were raising fears that few and few youth will be interested in agriculture as modern technology and related jobs are emerging. However, according to Tria during last year's DATE, a group of 30 to 40 millenials were asking if there are any more seminars in the event that they can attend.
Tria said this shows how there are still youths interested to venture into agriculture.
"A lot of them are in call centers, a lot of them are thinking of shifting careers, a lot of them actually have some small property maybe inherited from parents or siblings - one to two hectares. And they would like to know what they can do with it. The clamor is there. That's what we noticed over the past three years," Tria said.
He further said that the emerging trend now is that agriculture is no longer just the livelihood of grandparents but it slowly is becoming also the livelihood of the grandchildren as they are showing interest of learning and taking over.
"The more we encourage them to look at technology as a means to maximize the revenue from agriculture, the more interesting it will be for them. That's what we're looking at," he said.
Because of this interest, Tria said they are going to allot a special portion of the DATE 2018 on September 20 to 22 for youths who are interested and already are into agri entrepreneurship.
DATE 2018 will still be at the SMX Convention Center, SM Lanang Premier.