Agribusiness To Reduce Youth Unemployment

One of the posters announcing a training class.

Since the recession of 2008, youth unemployment has been higher than that for older adults. Even today unemployment for young adults is higher than the national average, and it gets as high as 15-18%. Still, those figures don't even approach the figures for the same age groups in Kenya, which can run as high as 70%. Taking a look at the same figures again, it can be noted that in Kenya, there is an aging working force within the field of agriculture. The average age of farmers is 60 years old.

Grace Wanene, who is a young farmer and environmentalist also is aware of the unemployment figures, sees agriculture as a field open to unemployed youth, if it is designed properly. So, she established the YOUTH AGRO-ENVIRONMENT INITIATIVE, which provides education and materials at an affordable price.



It is important for income earners to be engaged in growing cash crops, those that provide the best incomes for growing families. But the young people must also be trained in business principles, with the ability to develop a business plan; farming techniques, particularly methods that are used to grow those crops; and there has to be a way to pass that knowledge down to the many who lack jobs.

The first crop selected was organic mushrooms and 150 youth started in the program. As they engaged in the training program, they received enough material to establish their own demonstration farm plot. Once they completed the program, they could then plant additional acreage to sustain and develop their own businesses, while using the initial demonstration plot to support other youth in doing the same. That is similar to programs here in the US, which spread education through "each one teach one". As learning spreads throughout a professional group, so enterprise spreads throughout Kenya's youth in need of employment.

The program is in the process of developing manuals for the various types of agricultural programs that it wants to promote. So, in addition to organic mushrooms, there are manuals for watermelons, dairy, and capsicum/pepper farming. And there are more planned, in such areas as poultry, greenhouse, oyster, tomatoes, and passion fruit, among them. There is also a training program in the area of passion fruit farming,

Maize can also be grown for a good return on investment.

For those who have already started their businesses there is a Question And Answer service, there is an online form to submit an issue and the agro-farmer receives a timely response. That's similar to the State agricultural services provided here in the US, and other developed countries. One of  the best pages on the website is the one which details some of the success stories. So, this organization is having an effect on the reduction in youth unemployment and bringing fresh young faces into the area of agribusiness.

Students learning about livestock feed.

Thanks to this article from Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/grace-wanene-organic-mushrooms-youth-employment/; and the above link.

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