Agriculture Minister Anthony Smith says Antigua and Barbuda’s farming population is aging rapidly, warning that the country must bring in younger farmers to secure the future of its food supply.
Speaking during the 2026 Budget Debate, he described the demographic shift as one of the most serious long-term challenges facing the sector.
Smith said the average age of many local farmers is now “55 and 60 plus,” noting that the country’s most experienced producers are “aging out” of the sector and leaving behind a widening gap.
He stressed that this reality affects food security, succession planning, production stability and the ministry’s ability to push modern methods across the industry.
To counter the trend, Smith highlighted the relaunch of the Antigua and Barbuda Agricultural Youth Forum (ABAYF), which he described as one of the ministry’s most important tools for attracting the next generation of agricultural workers.
Since its relaunch less than a year ago, the programme has enrolled “75 registered members… young men and women… attracted to agriculture,” he told Parliament.
Smith said the youth forum is not just a club but a structured pipeline designed to expose young people to agricultural careers, teach them the value of food production, and connect them with ministry departments.
He used the example of Chief Extension Officer Iker Fergus, who “came through the ABAYF ranks” before rising into leadership, as proof that youth initiatives can produce skilled professionals who go on to guide national policy.
The minister added that ABAYF is part of a broader push to modernise the image of agriculture in Antigua and Barbuda.
He said young people must be encouraged to see agriculture not only as traditional farming but also as a field connected to technology, agribusiness, research, sustainability, food systems management and national development. Smith repeatedly emphasized that young people are essential to “moving the sector forward,” especially as older farmers retire.
He linked the demographic issue to several of the ministry’s wider programmes aimed at supporting current and future farmers, including training initiatives, infrastructure upgrades, new equipment, food-security projects, and expanded opportunities for hands-on involvement. Smith said these investments are meant to create a sector that young people want to join and can see themselves leading.
According to the minister, combining support for the aging farmer population with aggressive recruitment of young people is critical to ensuring that Antigua and Barbuda can maintain stable, local food production for years to come.
“Our young men and women are attracted to agriculture,” he said, adding that the ministry intends to build on that momentum.
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Young people don’t want to work never mind farming. Just want to drive around in a vehicle all day with the long weed in their mouth and trouble all the young girls and think they look cool. The women in this country have more balls than the men. They do more, taking on every sector of our society and excel at it. Our men need to assume their role and responsibility, and become the heavy lifters they were meant to be. They have become too complacent and negligent. I pray that there can be more sensitization in this sector as it is becoming more and more necessary to look after ourselves.
No problem mon! The Chinese imported peasants already got this.
Young people don’t want to get dirt on their hands. They prefer getting their hands on TikTok and Facebook
@FC…
I’ll give you several points on the #now, of your reasoning; i.e, the habits of an aspect of the culture which I call BBB – Big Boarse Bullshit (Jimmy Cliff sang it as #foolish_pride) where some people, youths and adults alike are wandering aimlessly and could careless about the consequences.
The truth of HUEman development over millennia is not by mistake when it comes to fruition, as REALITY; for…
…nothing; as in, no thing
…’tis, the only thing
…which happens by mistake;
…due to the fact, that
…all others are by design, default, destiny
…as, time through space
…the master which puts, HUEmans in their place
…is left – right in its own wake!
So before the #now of which you speak, there is (was) a #then.
Now, since nothing happens by #mistake, wisdom learned over time knows, that matrices plays a significant role from the THEN to the NOW!
In terms of our AGRICULTURE and AQUACULTURE INDUSTRYS, looking through realistic lenses, there is no fluid matrices in place to include education from early childhood to university levels, manufacturing, preservation, marketing and distribution to support these vital industries to any Nation, establish by DESIGN, in our Nation, to curtail or eliminate the ignorance which is embedded into the culture’s psyche when it comes to AGRICULTURE & AQUACULTURE; therefore, can the youths of NOW, be blamed for the DESIGNS, or lack therefore, of the THEN? Remember habits become norms.
Another issue which is plaguing and has plagued these INDUSTRIES, is another fact that, the psyche of the Cuiture DEMEANED, and marginalized these INDUSTRIES to the point, that the abuse which those who had serious interests, desires, dreams to develop and advance these industries were treated like they were the DREADS, DREGS, UNDESIRABLES of the Nation. It’s akin to being bastardized legally, by design. How many people to include you would intentionally choose such a path in life knowing fully well, that you are not appreciated for your worth? Very few of us choose such paths in life, unless yourSENSE OF PURPOSE is like a mirror or looking glass which reflects the image which is being used to categorize you right back at those doing the categorizing showing them, that their perception of others is actually, that of themselves.
As matrices are mentioned, as being important to the development of any aspect of HUEmanity, do you blame the youths (NOW) for the piss poor planning, implementation and management of such in Our Nation, because the (THEN) was non-existent?
I’ll conclude by stating a fact, in a nutshell as to what I just mentioned. In 1999, the PM, of the Nation was visiting the OAS in DC , and he had meet and greet of Nationals at the Embassy of A&B. During the Q&A portion after his speech, I asked Lester Bird this simple question, “as the leader of the Nation, look ahead 50 years from now, what role do you see, Agriculture and its development playing in the Nation’s future by then?”
Lester Bird replied, that he could not see that far ahead but for now and in the foreseeable future, the JEWS will fly in our food from Miami. This told me, that what you are witnessing today with our MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO attitude amongst the youths was inevitable.
So yes, the youths can take some of the blame for the lack of interests in the Agriculture and Aquaculture Industry, but take a look in that mirror and see who should really bear the brunt of their actions.
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat_Bastard
Vere Edwards
@FC…
@Sad But True
I’ll give you several points on the #now, of your reasoning; i.e, the habits of an aspect of the culture which I call BBB – Big Boarse Bullshit (Jimmy Cliff sang it as #foolish_pride) where some people, youths and adults alike are wandering aimlessly and could careless about the consequences.
The truth of HUEman development over millennia is not by mistake when it comes to fruition, as REALITY; for…
…nothing; as in, no thing
…’tis, the only thing
…which happens by mistake;
…due to the fact, that
…all others are by design, default, destiny
…as, time through space
…the master which puts, HUEmans in their place
…is left – right in its own wake!
So before the #now of which you speak, there is (was) a #then.
Now, since nothing happens by #mistake, wisdom learned over time knows, that matrices plays a significant role from the THEN to the NOW!
In terms of our AGRICULTURE and AQUACULTURE INDUSTRYS, looking through realistic lenses, there is no fluid matrices in place to include education from early childhood to university levels, manufacturing, preservation, marketing and distribution to support these vital industries to any Nation, establish by DESIGN, in our Nation, to curtail or eliminate the ignorance which is embedded into the culture’s psyche when it comes to AGRICULTURE & AQUACULTURE; therefore, can the youths of NOW, be blamed for the DESIGNS, or lack therefore, of the THEN? Remember habits become norms.
Another issue which is plaguing and has plagued these INDUSTRIES, is another fact that, the psyche of the Cuiture DEMEANED, and marginalized these INDUSTRIES to the point, that the abuse which those who had serious interests, desires, dreams to develop and advance these industries were treated like they were the DREADS, DREGS, UNDESIRABLES of the Nation. It’s akin to being bastardized legally, by design. How many people to include you would intentionally choose such a path in life knowing fully well, that you are not appreciated for your worth? Very few of us choose such paths in life, unless yourSENSE OF PURPOSE is like a mirror or looking glass which reflects the image which is being used to categorize you right back at those doing the categorizing showing them, that their perception of others is actually, that of themselves.
As matrices are mentioned, as being important to the development of any aspect of HUEmanity, do you blame the youths (NOW) for the piss poor planning, implementation and management of such in Our Nation, because the (THEN) was non-existent?
I’ll conclude by stating a fact, in a nutshell as to what I just mentioned. In 1999, the PM, of the Nation was visiting the OAS in DC , and he had meet and greet of Nationals at the Embassy of A&B. During the Q&A portion after his speech, I asked Lester Bird this simple question, “as the leader of the Nation, look ahead 50 years from now, what role do you see, Agriculture and its development playing in the Nation’s future by then?”
Lester Bird replied, that he could not see that far ahead but for now and in the foreseeable future, the JEWS will fly in our food from Miami. This told me, that what you are witnessing today with our MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO attitude amongst the youths was inevitable.
So yes, the youths can take some of the blame for the lack of interests in the Agriculture and Aquaculture Industry, but take a look in that mirror and see who should really bear the brunt of their actions.
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat_Bastard
Vere Edwards