As applications have been opened for the second cohort of government’s Youth Agricultural Homestead Program, the Youth Arm of the United National Congress is questioning what is the Youth Development Ministry’s criteria for accepting applicants. 

The YAHP program, which was launched in 2022, sees participants qualifying for access to state land for agriculture, a starter home and financial support to begin their trade upon graduating. 

The UNC’s Youth Arm, however, has raised questions as to whether all young people were being given fair access to the initiative.  

“The UNC National Youth Arm strongly suspects political discrimination by the PNM in the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries’ Youth Agricultural Homestead Programme (YAHP) that has recently been announced. The Youth Arm has noticed that some youth from a certain geographical area and political party seem to have better luck getting into the programme than others during the last cohort of this programme. We demand an explanation from the Ministry why this apparent bias existed, along with data about the land distribution,” the Youth Arm said in a statement.

“We hope that the National Youth Arm is mistaken. It’s inconceivable that the Ministry would deliberately overlook qualified applicants just because they happen to live in a UNC constituency. That would be ridiculous!” ir added.

YAHP is an agricultural in-person training programme intended to equip young people with the skills to become successful 21st century agribusiness entrepreneurs, according to the Youth Development Ministry.

Year 1 will offer comprehensive training in crop production and animal husbandry. On completion, successful trainees will gain access to land, technical and financial support, to prepare for the second year of training.

Year 2 will offer practical training on the land assigned to each trainee. On completion of year 2, successful trainees would move to become land lease holders and graduate as a new 21st century farmer.