This document discusses how the Covid-19 crisis could provide an opportunity for greater youth involvement in agriculture through increased use of digital technologies. It notes that many rural youth had left for cities but have now returned due to pandemic impacts. These youth are more familiar with technologies like smartphones, apps and social media. The crisis requires agricultural extension services to facilitate online interactions and make better use of existing digital platforms rather than creating new ones. The document advocates empowering rural youth to use digital tools to engage in agricultural businesses and revitalize their communities.

1. Could the Covid-19 crisis
be a turning point for youth in agriculture?
And what are the implications for rural advisory services?
Souvanthong Namvong
National Project Director,
Lao Upland Rural Advisory Service (LURAS)
Department of Technical Extension and Agro-
Processing (DTCP), Lao PDR

2. E-verything!
 Search for Covid-19+digitalisation on Google
you will get approximately 7.5 million results.
 Everybody agrees that the ‘new normal’ will
include greater use of e-commerce, e-finance,
e-learning, e-meetings…. e-verything!
 The question this presentation focuses on is:
who will be making greatest use of digital
technology in agriculture?

3. What we know #1
 In the past two decades, rural youth
have been leaving home in large
numbers.
 They have taken up insecure jobs in
cities or become migrant workers in
neighbouring countries.
 These workers have been severely
impacted by the economic
consequences of Covid-19.
 As a consequence of the pandemic,
people have returned to rural towns
and villages in large numbers.
A 2017 UN study estimated
that 1.3 million Lao citizens
live outside of the country.
That’s nearly 20% of the
population!

4. What we know #2
 Young people and migrant workers
are far more likely than older
farmers to own smart phones, have
social media accounts and are
familiar with various other apps.
 They were exposed to this
technology outside of their home
environment... and are bringing
digital technology back to the
village
 For example: 85% of FaceBook
users in Laos are under 35.

5. Examples from Laos
 Farmers are reaching out to
policy makers using YouTube
 Online discussion with 4,000+
members using Google Groups
 Technical training in pest
management using LINE
 Agribusiness and young farmers
connecting using WhatsApp
In Laos, Farmer-to-Farmer
Learning (F2F) is a key element of
our Green Extension approach,
and this can be done online as
well as face-to-face.

6. From problem to opportunity
 Many thousands of young people
are back in rural areas, with no
source of income, but they have a
phone in their pocket,
 They have the ability to seek for
information, compare prices,
make financial transfers and stay
connected to a wider social
network.
 Could this be an opportunity for
the revitalisation of rural
communities?

7. What we are learning
 When we see farming as a business,
and treat young farmers as potential
entrepreneurs, we will find more
opportunities for digitalisation.
 Our role as an extension service is no
longer to disseminate recommended
practices, but to facilitate
interaction.
 Digitalisation doesn’t need to involve
creation of new apps by Government.
Instead, we can make better use of
existing platforms.

8. The challenge
 How can we meet the needs of the ‘new
normal’ when we still have the capacity
of the old normal?
 GFRAS identified the challenges to making
greater use of social media in a study
carried out in 2015.
 That report concluded that “Though
agricultural organizations are slowly
adapting to the changing scenario, faster
actions are required to better utilize
social media”.
 With the arrival of Covid-19, the scenario
has changed even faster. Can RAS catch
up, or will we get left behind?

9. The response
 In Laos, we want to use existing capacity to
immediately improve opportunities for rural
youth, rather than waiting for yet another
reorganization of the extension service.
 A single institution can’t do this, but we can
bring together the public and private sector,
mass organisations and farmer networks.
 We already have a youth scheme called
AGREE: Agripreneurs for Green Rural
Enterprises and Employment.
 In response to Covid-19 we want to expand
the scheme and add another ‘E’.
 AGREEE: Agripreneurs for Green Rural
Enterprises, Employment and …
E-powerment!

10. Thanks
… and now time for a selfie?