Next Generation Mission

What is the RASC “NG Understanding and Assistance Mission”?
Through discussions at the Youth Forum held in conjunction with the Commonwealth Agricultural Conference in Calgary in 2006, the RASC identified that there is a great opportunity as well as enthusiasm for collaboration amongst young commonwealth agriculturalists through a visit by the Next Generation group to a developing country.

The first Understanding and Assistance Mission was in 2007 to Zambia, followed by the second mission to Papua New Guinea in 2009. The 2011 Mission will visit both Singapore and India in November 2011. It has been agreed by the RASC, as long as the will exists amongst its Next Generation members, to undertake such a mission in each intervening year of its biennial Commonwealth Agricultural Conferences. The missions must take place in a developing country where it has been identified that the group can be of assistance to both an RASC Member Society as well as local emerging farmers.

In countries where there is a very low literacy rate, particularly amongst rural communities there is great worth in providing agricultural advice of a very basic nature, the most basic of principals can be enormously beneficial to many commonwealth agriculturalists in developing countries, basic principals can usually also be demonstrated in a practical way that is easy to understand.

The participation in the mission by delegates from developing countries is vital in transferring knowledge between countries where agricultural practices and techniques may be of a similar nature. It is also beneficial for the farmers visited to interact with young farmers from both developed and developing countries. The effectiveness of the group is increased by having contributors from diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise.