Strategies for luring youths into agriculture to reduce joblessness

Pupils of Paramount Education Centre harvesting some of the mature and ready cowpeas from the school garden in Mombasa County on September 5, 2022. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Unemployment among the youth is one of the most acute problems affecting developing countries like Kenya. According to Institute of Economic Affairs, unemployment percentage in this country stands at 12 per cent of the current workforce which is approximately 15 million people. A lack of basic education ranks high among the reasons for this problem.

However, youth unemployment is compounded by the fact that a large portion of the populace tends to be youth. The formal economy is unable to create enough employment opportunities to absorb this constant supply of labour-seeking youth. Whatever the solution[s] to this multilevel problem, a great deal of coordination and deft thinking will be required to attract gadget-loving and efficiency prone young people into the agricultural sector.