On 20 October 2022, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) organised a regional youth consultation, who will stay then? How digitalization can bring youth back to agriculture in Europe and Central Asia, focusing on digitalisation in agriculture. This event, organised under the second global World Food Forum flagship, aimed to provide a platform for young farmers, entrepreneurs, and researchers to share their key challenges, experiences, approaches, and success stories related to the application of digital technologies in agriculture.

Lucia Garrido, Rural and Territorial Development Communications Manager at AEIDL, was one of the speakers at the Youth Consultation. She presented the concept of Smart Villages and its relation to the FAO Digital Villages initiative, as well as the potential of this approach to attract and retain young people in rural areas. Some of the results were also shared about the Horizon 2020 DESIRA project, which AEIDL is also involved, in relation to how the use of digital tools in agriculture can influence how young people approach the sector.

Digital technology can address the challenge of youth migration and attract youth back to agriculture. However, digitalisation should not be an end goal in itself, but rather a tool to open doors to new opportunities, enhance the performance of the sector, stimulate higher incomes, and improve working conditions. All the information about the Youth Consultation, as well as the recording, can be found here.