YPARD Kenya and the youth in agribusiness strategy development

According to the recent estimates, the Kenyan youth population is estimated at 13.7 million accounting for about 35.4% of the total population. This presents a rich labor force which translates to 60% of the total labor force in Kenya. 

But, youth unemployment in Kenya is still high, estimated at about 64% of the total unemployed Kenyans, further creating an opportunity for youth to engage in then extensive agriculture sector. Rural, urban, professional and un-professional youth are beginning to embrace agribusiness as a way of livelihoods, but the harsh prevailing policy environment hinders them from time to time. Land and access to finance and markets remain some of the major challenges as factors of production affecting youth engagement in the sector while Gender remains an issue of concern as well with more young women unable to compete in the unfair agriculture sector presented by the country. 

While appreciating the National Youth Policy (2006), it is important to underscore the fact that it was not only unclear of youth engagement in Agriculture but also not a youth led process as far as designing, planning, and implementing programmes is concerned. This calls for the need to address this anomaly. Article 55 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 has tried to address this as well as other Regional and International Policy Frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs), Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Results Framework 2015–2025, and the East African Common Market Protocol. But despite all these outputs, the potential of youth in the agricultural sector is yet to be fully exploited making the sector largely unattractive.  

Kenyan Youth and the Agriculture Sector Coordination Mechanism

Kenya has a devolved system of governance with agriculture being one of the key devolved functions. In ensuring totally strategy cohesion nationally, the National Government represented by the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries (MoALF) in close collaboration with Council of Governors came together to develop The Agriculture Sector Coordination Mechanism which defines strategies for the two levels of governments to work together towards transforming Kenya’s agriculture Sector. A key ingredient in this coordination mechanism is the recognition of youth engagement in the sector especially in the achievement of two main goals; employment creation and attainment of food security. The youth will be represented at the Intergovernmental Forum IGF, which is the highest level of coordination mechanism/ structure and by secondment at the Intergovernmental Secretariat IG secretariat as well as in the Working Groups. This will ensure non-dilution of youth issues within the coordination mechanism. 

In alignment to this coordination mechanism, the two levels of government, National Government and Council of Governors, and in close collaboration with key partners Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), SIDA, World Vision Kenya, GIZ, Africa Lead Programme and the Kenya Chapter of Young Professional for Agricultural Development (YPARD Kenya) are developing the first ever Youth in Agribusiness Strategy which feeds into the National Agriculture Policy. 

The First  Kenyan Youth in Agribusiness Strategy

The Strategy aims at providing opportunities for the youth to benefit from the different agribusiness enterprises along the various agricultural commodity value chains. The impact of this joint intervention is envisaged to result to job creation for majority of the unemployed youth, economic growth and reduction of household food insecurity. 

This strategy introduces eleven  strategic issues outlined as thus;

1. To transform the mindset and perceptions of the youth towards agribusiness
2. To equip youth with appropriate agribusiness skills, knowledge and information
3. To enhance access to affordable and youth friendly financial services for agripreneurship
4. Enhance access and sustainable use of land for the youth in agribusiness
5. To engage youth in research, development and utilization of innovative agricultural technologies
6. Enhance access to factors of production, utilisation of modern technologies and utilisation of Good Agricultural Practices to increase efficiency
7. To increase utilisation of agricultural products through value addition
8. Improved access to affordable suitable output markets for the youth
9. Support implementation, reviews and development of policies that create an enabling environment for youth in agri-preneurship
10. Promote youth-inclusive climate smart agricultural technologies and create green jobs for environmental sustainability
11. Promote an integrated approach to address cross-cutting challenges including gender disparities, cultural barriers, alcohol and substance abuse, HIV & AIDS, weak governance and value systems amongst others.

In addition,the strategy also outlines strategic interventions towards providing solutions to the strategic issues with the aim of raising the profile of Agriculture among youth in Kenya.

The first draft of the strategy was endorsed at the 2nd Intergovernmental Forum on the Agriculture Sector which was held in Mombasa Kenya on 21-22 November, 2016 providing room for further consultations with all involved stakeholders to finalize the document. The next stage will be County consultations where Youth in Agribusiness, will be sensitized on the strategy in order to consolidate further inputs and obtain ownership of the process from the youth for whom the strategy is being developed. These county consultations have been scheduled to take place from 19th March 2017 to 25th March 2017 and will be done in regions consisting of clustered counties countrywide. YPARD Kenya members and other youth engaged in agriculture are encouraged to take advantage of this exercise by liaising directly with their county headquarters in order to provide feedback on this document. 

The First Youth in Agribusiness Conference and Exhibition

The conference slated for May 2017 will be the first of its kind to be held in Kenya. It aims at bringing together young agripreneurs from all the 47 counties in Kenya and providing a National platform for youth in agribusiness enterprises development. It is in this Conference that the Youth in Agribusiness Strategy will be launched during the high level panel Opening Session. An exhibition to showcase youth engagement in agriculture will also be officially opened by the high level delegation including Senior officials from both levels of government, development partners, Youth in Agriculture Network leaders and Kenya’s Non-State Actors platform. Other objectives of the conference are to establish specific partnerships with other stakeholders in the finance and marketing sector.  

More information on the conference will be made public within the next few weeks.

Photo credit: African Progress Panel