Interview with Ntiokam Divine, CSAYN

We caught up with Ntiokam Divine, Founder and Managing Director of CSAYN, ahead of his appearance at the upcoming Africa Climate Smart Agriculture Summit.

What is your current involvement in Climate Smart Agriculture?

I equally sit on the Technical consultation of the Africa CSA Program of the AfDB and equally a founding member of the Global Alliance on CSA (GACSA). In addition , I belong to the Africa CSA Alliance to ensure youth voices are fully mainstreamed in all of the above mentioned initiatives . In 2014, joined efforts with young people across the globe to establish the Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) to ensure meaningful youth participation in CSA practices.

What is the key mission of the CSA Youth network? .

Our mission is to:

• Raise awareness among young men and women (aged 18-35yrs) to enable them to make decisions for the future in the agriculture sector

• Create awareness of the related to climate chage and agriculture

• Make youths aware of the contributions they can make in the agriculture sector for a better future, especially through the application of climate-smart practices in both agriculture and forestry

• Enhance meaningful youth contribution in livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture activities

What are the achievements to date? .

Our achievements to date include:

• I have managed to bring together 27 Active CSAYN member countries worldwide.

• CSAYN has improved lives of farmers and herders in different countries by training them on the best ways to manage their crops and animals.

• Each member Country has been exposed to other countries challenges and able to learn on how to improve his/her county situation.

• We have managed to plant fruits trees in different countries like Tanzania.

• We have educated female youths in Uganda by empowering young girls to take charge of their lives by ending teenage pregnancy as one way of promoting gender for growth G4G.

• We have formulated formal groups for farmers in Tanzania to accelerate CSA to reduce unemployment and boost individual and National economy.

• We have improved farmers lives in Congo DRC by implementing smart rice farms

• We have developed a mobile app www.greenapp.co.tz that will assist farmers and herders worldwide by linking them to markets and make them meet with any support they want online.

Can you outline some of your aims for the coming year?

Our aims of 2018 /2019 are to ensure CSAYN engages meaningfully with rural youth farmers in their respective communities, make GreenApp accessible by Many Countries worldwide, add more serious CSAYN member countries and do a field work in 90%.

Which aspects of the event are you most looking forward too?

The round tables and equally the youth sessions where more concrete actions and best practices will be shared with other delegates.