Inside new agricultural project changing young lives in Makueni

After high school studies at Kitise High, Mutunga did not have any money to proceed with her studies. He resorted to doing manual jobs.

On a good day, he would earn Sh300 from doing manual jobs.

This was not, however, enough to put food on the table.

With time, he resorted to alcohol and miraa as he tried to cure the stress bothering him.

To Mutunga, who comes from a family of nine from Kitise/Kithiki ward, Mbata village, says farming was initially not an option.

“I initially thought farming was for old people,” he says.

Mutunga said drinking alcohol had put his relations with the family members at odds.

“I used to stress my parents; I used to wake up and go for alcohol. I used to do manual jobs for spirits,” he says. 

Today, however, Mutunga has embraced farming, courtesy of a new project seeking to engage youth and youth groups to catalyse jobs as seed multipliers, producers, aggregators, agri-prenuers and micro, small and medium enterprises.

The project also seeks to enhance the uptake of digital technologies for last mile access to information and skills; foster market-based streamlining of value chains; build capacity; advocate for policy; and strengthen public-private partnerships.

Implemented by Africa Harvest as lead partner, ICRISAT, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, the project is scaling the commercialisation of drought tolerant crops technologies to secure dignified and fulfilling work for 120,000 young people in rural Kenya.

The project targets those aged 18–35 years.

Under the project, 70 per cent of young women and 30 per cent of young men will be involved.

The Scaling Commercialization of Drought Tolerant Crops Technologies programme is leveraging a comprehensive value chain integration strategy to enhance opportunities for young Kenyans in agriculture.

Recognising that agriculture offers the most promising avenue for sustainable employment for the youth, the programme concentrates on eight key agricultural value chains, including sorghum, finger millet, pearl millet, groundnuts, pigeon pea, green grams, poultry and fish, along with mechanisation, spanning 10 counties in Western and Eastern.

The selected value chains are resilient to climate challenges, reducing weather-related risks that could discourage young farmers.

The project covers the counties of Homa Bay, Siaya, Busia, Elgeyo Marakwet, Makueni, Machakos, Kitui, Meru, Tharaka Nithi and Taita Taveta.

The implementation period is from August 2022 to August 2027.

By employing a Trainer of Trainers (ToT) model, the project fosters community-based expertise, offering training in various aspects of agriculture, from seed production and agricultural best practices to enterprise development, mechanisation, value addition and marketing.

The approach aims to optimise productivity and returns per unit of input, fostering sustainability.

Furthermore, lessons learned are continuously integrated into project delivery, including the development of an infographic-based communication tool to clarify income-generating opportunities for young participants.

Proposed activities under the project include leveraging digital technologies, mechanisation; scaling up the uptake of improved technologies, fostering agri-preneurship and inclusive business models, supporting policy advocacy for enabling environments, giving a platform for youth voices, and innovation and active engagement of the private sector in value chains.

Today, Mutunga is growing green grams and cow peas. He says that he no longer drinks, as working on his farm has taken much of his energy and attention.

“Young people should look for something to do,” he says. 

Mutunga says he learned about the project from his fellow youth before forming a group and undergoing training.

The group is known as the Twone Mbee Youth Group and has about 20 members.

Following an unparalleled interest in farming, the group decided to have the demonstration plot on Mutunga's farm.

The demo plot aids in practical learning for the group members.

He now wants to try growing one acre of green grams.

Mutunga said he planted the sorghum that he was given in December last year.

He got two sacks of 90kg each after planting the crops on half an acre.

“I sold each kilogramme at Sh30,” he said.

The resources helped him seek medication for a tumour he has on one of his legs that has grown since he was in primary school.

Teresa Mutile, 30, is also a beneficiary of the project. She says that she gained interest after training.

“Farming is profitable. After the training, I saw it was good to practice,” Mutile, who holds a diploma in public health from the Kenya Medical Training College, said.

After graduation, she tried looking for a job but was unsuccessful. 

“I tried looking for a job and got one on a contract basis, which ended in 2020,” Mutile said.

After training, she was given two kilos of sorghum and two kilos of green grams.

“I planted green grams on half an acre and sorghum on an acre on my parent’s farm. We, however, were late in planting. I got 70kg of sorghum and 50kg for green grams,” she says.

She is a TOT in six groups, and each group comprises 20 to 30 members.

Her group has 14 women, while the rest are men.

Today, Mutile has invested the proceeds in other revenue streams, such as poultry, which started with only four chickens but now has 53.

She has also bought three goats at a cost of Sh6,000 each.

The single mother of three says she has plans to renovate the structure housing her chicken.

She also has plans to set up an aggregation site, where she will be able to buy crops from farmers and wait for good prices before selling.

Mutile urged the youth to invest in farming, saying it has good prospects.

In a good month, she makes about Sh26,000 a month.

Makueni subcounty agriculture officer William Mwangi said the county is working closely with the project it targets drought-tolerant crops.

“The water for crop production is a limiting resource. That means any technology that supports farmers to grow crops in a water-limiting environment becomes very critical,” Mwangi says.

He says drought-tolerant crops such as sorghum, palm millet, green grams and cow peas are very critical.

Drought-tolerant crops, Mwangi says, can perform well in demarcated zones.

He said the youth are having challenges in terms of investment, be it in agriculture or business.

“The first issue is capital. Some of the youth have just finished college, and they do not have the capital to start businesses, be it agribusiness or any other business. Then there is the issue of production resources. The most important thing is the skills to undertake what they are supposed to undertake in agriculture,” Mwangi says. 

They are currently working with communities and sensitising them to the need to involve youth in agriculture.

He says communities should make resources for production accessible.

“As we implement agricultural projects in the zones, we make deliberate efforts to incorporate youth in sensitisation forums, meetings and trainings," Mwangi says. 

"In those farmer meetings, we make sure that if there are committees being formed, we incorporate the youth. Youth have not discovered that money is in agriculture, maybe because they have not been enlightened.” 

Mwangi says  mindset changes requires a lot of capacity building and sensitisation so that they appreciate the important role that agriculture can play in their lives.

He says they are also linking the youth to financial institutions so that they can get the credit they require to purchase machines and technologies.

Mwangi encourages more youth to join the programme for youth job creation in the targeted counties.