Barker: Revive agriculture lessons

AGRICULTURE should be revived and taught in schools so that children at earlier ages can better understand the sector in fieldwork as well as understanding the farming needs, an official says.
Executive director of the Institute of National Affairs Paul Barker said this during a recent dialogue in Port Moresby that the country’s agricultural institutions were good in the past but had slipped.
“We used to have nearly all the schools around the country that had farms, some schools lost their land and some of the schools lost their agriculture teachers,” he said.
“We need to have that passion and that knowledge in the schools for children at earlier ages, and then we need to have people right the way through the technological areas who are not just doing agricultural technologies but also farming systems.
“So that we can actually have adequate professionals getting a better understanding of doing fieldwork and also getting a better understanding of what the farmers needs are so they can actually assist.”
Barker said that it was important to empower and impart practical skills and knowledge to the farmers.
“Unfortunately, government entities have been too focused on quick solutions.”
He said sometimes, overseas investors came in and said results could be achieved from the totally unsuitable land and the people forget that their focus should have been on real opportunities such as assessing the land use, farm management and working.