Modernise agriculture to attract more youth to the sector

It is no doubt that Kenya’s economy is largely driven by agriculture. Agriculture presents a huge opportunity for employment creation to absorb the youth and improve their livelihoods, contributing 26 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and another 27 per cent of GDP indirectly through linkages with other sectors.

The sector employs more than 40 per cent of the total population and more than 70 per cent of Kenya's rural people. 

As a country, we have made progress in modernising agriculture in Kenya but we still have a long way to go to achieve our full potential.

To achieve this potential, we must do agriculture differently, from how we develop policy at the national level, to how we allocate resources in our farming households. 

The youth employment crisis in sub-Saharan Africa’s towns and cities is among the region’s top development priorities. High rates of youth under- and unemployment creates significant obstacles to young people’s ability to become self-reliant, a crucial first step in the transition to adulthood. It is important to explore how local and global structures and processes create the hostile economic and social environment in which urban youth search for livelihoods. There is need to understand the multitude of obstacles facing urban youth in their quest for decent work and secure livelihoods, how these differ by gender and educational status, and the implications of this for their longer-term social and economic development.

According to UNDP’s Kenya Youth Employment Challenge 2013 report, it reveals that 64 per cent of unemployed Kenyans are youth. These youths offer a dynamic work force that is innovative, with a high uptake of technological know-how and the ability to take on significant levels of risk. The Kenyan Youth account for 35.4 per cent of Kenya’s population (World Bank 2014), with 1,000,000 entering the labor market annually (Kenya Country Report on Youth Employment, 2014). They offer a dynamic workforce that is innovative; have a high uptake of technological know-how and the ability to take on significant levels of risk. The Agriculture sector presents a huge opportunity for the creation of employment to absorb the youth and ensure the achievement of food security for future generations. 

However, the youth do not view the agricultural sector as a decent form of work simply because the majority of farmers engage in traditional methods of farming that are mainly associated with poor farming techniques thus making the youth view agriculture as dirty work. Development of farming techniques through mechanisation such as Climate Smart Agriculture will boost youth attractive commercial farming.

 

There is a need to cultivate youth entrepreneurship through Agriculture by improving agribusiness to provide jobs for young people and help African countries achieve development goals. Progress in this arena, however, remains limited.

With a rapidly urbanising country, there is an increasing gap between food consumption and food production. Urban sustainability is dependent on ensuring sustainable food security and food production. A high rural-urban migration coupled with limited employment opportunities in urban areas is resulting in immigrants remaining poor in their informal urban settlements, and face even higher food prices and greater difficulties in accessing nutritious food. Furthermore, unemployment and food insecurity among poor urban inhabitants is leading to increases in crime and unrest. The principal challenge in the Agricultural sector is ensuring optimal utilization of youth potential in contributing to the sector goals of achieving food and nutrition security, income generation, decent employment, and wealth creation.

KENDAT is an organization that aims at disseminating improved agricultural technologies. Because the youth need to be encouraged to engage in Agriculture as entrepreneurship, mechanisation of the agricultural sector to boost youth attractive commercial farming is very vital. Agricultural mechanization is the major agricultural production input and catalyst for rural development that has been most visibly missing in the Agricultural Sector. The application of agricultural mechanization and its associated technologies increases power to agriculture, enhancing the productivity of human labor. There is a great opportunity for development institutions that will make a difference with interventions that help ease farming. The opportunity is even greater for institutions that can apply Climate-Smart farming and technologies such as KENDAT. 

KENDAT has contributed to Africa’s development arena of Climate-Smart Agriculture to improve lives of farmers while creating employment for the youth. For instance, it has created an opportunity for unemployed youth to build a life for themselves through owning donkeys and using them to transport agricultural produce such as rice, cabbages, potatoes etc. from the farms to the market areas. This has created an opportunity for employment for over 1,000 youths across the country in the urban areas where agriculture is the main source of livelihoods such as Mwea and Kiambu. Farmers have also benefited by not having to worry about the post-harvest losses linked to poor infrastructure while transporting their agricultural produce. Additionally, KENDAT has trained these youths on animal welfare and financial management to ensure that their donkeys are well cared for and the youth can grow financially. As a pioneer in Climate Smart Agriculture, the organisation leverages on its past and present partnerships, to drive a movement that will find many low-hanging-fruits that will support youth in embracing agribusiness. 

Youths interested in agribusiness experience several barriers, one of which is lack of information on current agricultural technologies and agri-business. To overcome this barrier, training programs that link young people to climate-smart agricultural practices and profitable new agribusinesses should be given the priority. The training should aim to change the youth’s perception of agriculture to see it as an exciting and profitable agribusiness. The trainings should focus on equipping the youths with new agricultural skills and technologies in Crop Management and Livestock Management.

Youth can also be involved in some agricultural activities, including production, post-harvest handling, distribution, and marketing of agricultural products. Removing barriers to start-up capital will allow young people to innovate and expand current agri-businesses. An example is the promotion of Agribusiness by linking young people to markets, agriculture input service providers, extension services, and the media to promote existing and emerging agribusiness opportunities. Increasing youth involvement in agricultural value chains can improve food security and reduce youth unemployment.

Kenyan Youth can capitalize on the Agricultural sector through new climate-smart agricultural technologies (high yielding and more resilient food crops, irrigation, and machinery). The youth also need energy, communication, and transport infrastructure that links them to lucrative regional and global food markets. Finally, the youth need gender-responsive policies that will enable women and girls to access climate services, credit, agricultural inputs and equipment, and insurance.

The author is a Community Development Officer, KENDAT