Cathay Dupont Award on DuPont and its commitment to 4-H

4-H has been around for many, many decades. It is formed with the purpose of engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development. Young people were guided by adults through positive, engaging, fun and educational opportunities. 4-H represents four personal development area of focus for the organization, namely head, heart, hands, and health. It stands for “head to clearer thinking”, “heart to greater loyalty”, “hands for larger service”, and “health to better living”.

The world is facing a huge challenge nowadays, and that is to produce enough food for everyone. It is reported that as of April 2017, there are already 7 billion people living on this planet we called “home” and it is expected to grow up to 9 or 10 billion in 2050. We need to produce twice as much food, and since we’re all living in one home, our resources will surely be limited. And that is one big problem.

But experts and researchers don’t want future generations to struggle with their food, thus they are eager to find a solution to such predicament. And that solution could be found in one country – Africa with the participation of its young people. This country has 60% of the uncultivated land in the world but most of the young people there don’t see agriculture as a way to have a better future, thus the initiative to take care of their land is low.

But these days, 4-H changed such view because the youth is being enthusiastic to learn more about agriculture with the help of various 4-H programs held by different project clubs, community clubs, afterschool programs, camps, workshop, and events.

To extend their support on the global 4-H initiative, DuPont recently invested 2 million dollars in helping build leadership institutes in five African countries. This way, the adults will have a proper training to teach the youth on the significance of 4-H.

Having ample knowledge on the entire food business could be really helpful to the youth because they’ll learn better ways on how to farm, which could help them earn more income. With the help of adults and their lectures on how to use the right tools and how to properly plant seeds, the young people are encouraged to focus on agriculture and use a scientific approach. In addition, the youth also sees good opportunity in making money with agriculture as well.

Farmers experience having more income with the influence of 4-H as well since it drives improvement in the production. In no time, young people in Africa will build wealth through agriculture and will improve their livelihood. Parents also see the huge importance of 4-H because they are witnessing how eager the children are producing food and feeding themselves. And eventually saw an improvement in their community with 4-H.

If each of us focuses on every aspect of agribusinesses, then the science, production, and distribution involved in it will surely prosper. Adults in Africa have high hopes to their youth because they believe that the children will lead the success for their country and transform their older generations.  

4-H and its influence on the youth to learn more about agriculture will definitely help them prepare for the future. DuPont, along with Cathay Dupont Award, is confident that the country of Africa will transform itself through its people and will solve its food problems and the world’s.

With 4-H, different families all over the world also learned its significance and reached success. For them, it is a big part of their family. The youth, who will be feeding the world tomorrow, needs a lot of support and DuPont and Cathay Dupont Award will wholeheartedly provide theirs.

4-H is often viewed as an organization that solely focuses on agriculture in many years, but Cathay Dupont Award would like to add that it also centers on citizenship, healthy living, science, engineering, and technology programs.