Posted on October, 15, 2018 at 10:51 am
By NELSON MAINA
Over the last five years, the rate of rural-urban migration among the youth has reached unprecedented levels with policy makers warning that if allowed to persist, it could hit epidemic proportions with irreversible impacts.
With eight out every 10 unemployed Kenyans being young person of between 18 and 34 years, the clamour for white collar jobs has been high.
The young people have been relocating to cities in droves searching for white collar jobs that are not forthcoming and they are forced to make do with tough living conditions which have seen majority of them worse off than they were in rural areas.
Researchers now say that up to one third of Nairobi residents are ultra-hungry as high food prices take a toll on city dwellers’ incomes.
About 76 per cent of women in the country are employed in agriculture according to the recent data by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Even more interesting, 80 per cent of farms are run by women. However, only half of these women actually own land.
The rest are owned by their husbands in what has created numerous problems including access to credit, improving farm productivity and making investments, because they have to consult before making any decisions.
Women and youth remain among the most important fulcrum of food security in the country despite having been ignored for so long. Rural women for example spend on average seven hours on the farms.
The youth, on the other hand, have been billed as the hope of a future, food secure country. With agriculture being the lifeline of the country, in earnings to both government and households and a major employer, the focus on ensuring women and youth are at the driving seat of the food security agenda should be a matter of when, not if.
Numerous researchers have identified modern age agriculture as a panacea for taming rural urban migration, especially among the youth and the low hanging fruit in tackling the headache that is unemployment.
It is, therefore, encouraging to see initiatives that have been introduced to address this starting to bear fruits in terms of mind shift and the actual embracing of farming by young people and women.
One such drive, the National Farmers Awards, organised by agro input company Elgon Kenya and the Ministry of Agriculture has proven that recognising farmers’ efforts goes a long way in motivating the noble pursuit of feeding a nation.
Indeed, now in its sixth year, the award scheme has particularly laid emphasis on women and youth who every year are rewarded by the president at the Nairobi International Trade Fair.
FOOD SECURITY HANDSHAKE
What has been christened the ‘food security handshake’ between these winners and the president has had major impact beyond the award ceremony with the soil celebrities going on to create farming empires and inspiring a new generation of crop producers.
Past winners have turned their homes into model farms attracting visitors from across the country and beyond. One woman farmer now has contracts from Kenyans in the US, who have requested her to grow produce on their behalf.
Another has trained visiting farmers from Namibia. Yet these are ordinary farmers who are fuelled by the conviction of their passion and the need to place food on the table. It is a journey of surmounting odds and celebrating yields one crop at a time.
Judges of the award scheme who traverse the country in the judging process have been impressed by large swathes of lush green vegetation run by young people busy on the fields, effortlessly turning barren lands into baskets of bumper harvests, not because they want to win awards, although that is usually in their wish list, but because they have found purpose, reason and source of income in farms.
Such impressive stories from the field are a major step towards our hunger free journey.
It has been impressive to see the enormous support from the private sector in this noble initiative. Institutions like Bayer East Africa, BASF, UPL, Excel Crop Care Limited, FMC, Arysta Life Science and Nation Media through Seeds of Gold have been unwavering in seeing the success of the scheme.
Now more than ever the role of the private sector in farmers’ lives is needed considering that every single day, the government has needs competing for its attention.
No country has ever succeeded by leaving an all-important sector like agriculture to government alone.
To transform Kenya into a land of plenty requires the commitment of all of us, but most importantly calls on us to listen, champion and promote women and youth led agricultural enterprises.
The writer is the marketing and communications manager, Elgon Kenya Ltd.
Source: Daily Nation