Neso offices in Indonesia and Vietnam organised the Orange Talk on “Towards a Sustainable Food System: Role of Youth in Strengthening Linkages Between Rural-Urban Agriculture in Southeast Asia”, which is part of the #EmpowerYouth4Food campaign to increase youth engagement in agriculture. Participants from all over Southeast Asia and Bangladesh attended this very special edition of the Orange Talk to celebrate the first anniversary of the Empower Youth4Food campaign.

Mr Joost van Uum, Agricultural Counsellor for Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands underlined in his remarks stated engagement of youth is essential for transitioning towards sustainable agricultural and food system, specifically in strengthening the urban-rural linkages. Young generation has opportunities to be creative and innovative which further makes agriculture and farming more appealing.

A panel session joined by young agri-food professionals from Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines, stimulated discussion on key lessons and strategies to promote a better urban-rural linkages in tackling challenges in achieving SDGs, and the roles of youth in strengthening rural-urban linkages in Southeast Asia.  

Long: Role of youth to pick up innovation

Brayan Bornias from the Department of Food Science and Technology of Southern Leyte State University, Philippines highlighted that building networks among youth will be helpful in promoting agriculture activities. Youth can also take part in information dissemination using social media to increase awareness among them.

Aninda Tifani Puari, lecturer of Universitas Andalas, Indonesia stated that youth have a big role in knowledge transfer from urban to rural area. They can bridge basic science that they have acquired to the application in the ground. For instance, youth can assist rural farmers to incorporate modern technology into their agricultural practices.

Dr Long Hoang from the New Amsterdam Consult highlighted that the role of youth is to pick up innovation. Universities and companies developing innovations every day, and how that would be picked up on rural area, depends on the young generation. The role of youth is to use and leverage innovation and technology.

Following the panel discussion, Nanya Burki, Head of Development & Partnership, and Ika Satyasari from Detara Foundation announced 3 winners, and 5 winners of social media category of the Empower Youth4Food video competition, selected from among 71 entries from 5 countries. The video competition aimed to raise awareness among youth for sustainable food systems.

Join the Empower Youth4Food campaign by sharing our messages on social media using #EmpowerYouth4Food to help bring awareness to increase youth engagement in agriculture and food systems.