Young Farmers Open Letter Contest

BACKGROUND

In 2020, the consortium Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) and La Via Campesina (LVC) through the ASEAN Farmers’ Organisation Support Programme (AFOSP) – Asia-Pacific Farmers’ Program (APFP) platform conducted the “Young Farmers Dance Challenge” with the following objectives: 1) to attract young people to join Farmers Organizations; 2) to build friendship and cooperation among young farmers; and, 3) to raise awareness about young farmers contribution in preventing the spread of COVID19 as well as their contribution in the recovery from the pandemic. The contest was participated by 15 young farmers groups from Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Visit this page for more information: https://asiapacificfarmersforum.net/young-farmers-dance-challenge/

As a continuation of the efforts to promote agriculture to the youth, AFA-LVC will hold another activity aimed at young farmers: the “Young Farmers Open Letter Contest”. This activity will be a platform for young farmers to express to policymakers their story and the challenges they face in farming, and at the same to communicate these issues to a bigger audience via social media.

OBJECTIVES

The Young Farmers Open Letter Competition aims to:

1. Raise awareness about young farmers’ challenges in engaging in agriculture
2. Bridge the communication between young farmers and policymakers
3. Identify key policy recommendations supportive of young farmers
4. Promote the role and contributions of young farmers in building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic
5. Boost the visibility of APFP on social media

WHO CAN JOIN

• Young farmers (15 to 35 years old)
• Must be a member of any of the farmers’ groups within the AFOSP-APFP partners (as certified by NFO and NIA)

For more information, please visit the website here.