Learning ability of youths vital, says agronomist

THE ability of young people to learn new skills, lead and transfer these skills are important, says agronomist Crystal Artango, 27, from Erap, Morobe.
Artango, who is an agronomist with Trukai Industries Limited, was among a group of young and aspiring Papua New Guineans who represented the country at the Apec Voices of the Future 2017 forum in Da Nang, Vietnam, three weeks ago.
Apec Voices of the Future is a youth dialogue platform that was held in conjunction with the Apec chief executive officers’ summit and Apec Economic Leaders’ Week.
“The ability of our youth to learn and later lead in the technology space is essential,” Artango said.
“We need to educate our youths on global trends and the jobs of the future then support them with greater start-up venture funding to put what they have learnt into practice,” she said.
“From an agronomist’s perspective, I believe the training and upskilling of our local farmers form part of this overall goal, which Trukai’s multiple farming projects across the country align with.”
Artango was one of six PNG delegates who spoke at the forum. The others were Wilfred Atzier (Newcrest Mining), Charles Wama (Kina Securities), engineering and technical professionals Kenny Hampalekie and Noah Pingin, and the founder and co-owner of KLM Consulting, Roberta Morlin.
They spoke on “how to create new dynamism and foster a shared future among youth in the Asia Pacific region”.
“Basically, we spoke about our economy and economic status,” Artango said.
“There were four sub-themes we had to prepare our speeches upon, related to what our country’s delegation position was.
“I was nominated by our CEO Greg Worthington-Eyre and my agriculture manager Jarrod Pirie and made it through.”
“I then had to do a write up and illustrate what I hoped to achieve from the trip and my understanding of the theme.”
“I was lost for words when I was selected by the Apec Business Advisory Council team in Singapore.”
Artango also addressed the need to invest human development to improve PNG’s human development index ranking to 50 from 148 among United Nations member countries, improve access to services and basic infrastructure and improve life expectancy in PNG from 57.9 to 77 years.