Youth Unemployment is increasing in an alarming rate, rural Youth access to livelihood opportunities are very limited, and of all the factors that contribute to violence, armed conflict, militancy, insurgency and poverty in Cameroon. Lack of appropriate mechanism for meaningful youth engagement, empowerment and development are the most critical.
It is therefore obvious that to achieve long term solution to the accentuated alarming rate of youth unemployment and restiveness, all stakeholders must commit selflessly to the process of ensuring that youths are given life inherent with socio-economic independence and Agriculture possesses three times more than any other sector to achieve the result.
The long-term goal of Youth Community Agriculture Programme (YOCAP) is to engage community youths using a cluster model to produce selected commodity on a contiguous farmland. And more particularly set up Farm site on a 100-500 hectares of land as an incubator framework to train and empower youths in Cameroon on Agricultural Production and value addition chains.
The YOCAP is designed to address the problem of lack of access to farm land, start-up capital, credit facilities, improved inputs and mechanized equipment for farming by the youths. It’s a three years revolving collaborative farming scheme put in place to train an average of two thousand (2,000) youths annually in different YOCAP Farm sites in Production-Processing-Marketing of various industrial crops while empowering them to set up their own Agro-enterprises..
Sustainable approach to Agricultural practices using mechanization, production cost and marketing bills sharing modalities to enhance profit maximization is adequately utilized through the programme.
Building youth knowledge and skills in local sustainable food production will empower and strengthen youth pride in rural culture and agricultural livelihood, and help reduce rural exodus of youths and migration of youth out of the country(Some dying in the desert and the sea) .