Counties have been advised to integrate the youth into agriculture to boost food production.
Food and Agriculture Organisation country leader in charge of inclusive value chains Tito Arunga says for the nation to attain food self-sufficiency, the youth must be roped into the agricultural sector from research to marketing.
He said with 12,000 agriculture graduates exiting colleges every year the country has enough human resource in agriculture.
“Today, a total of 12,000 graduates are leaving our colleges with agriculture-related qualifications but cannot be absorbed into formal jobs. Counties can tap into these talents and employ such skills in agricultural activities such as value chain and internship programmes,” he said.
Arunga at the Kenyatta stadium in Embu where FAO was hosting a one day youth agriculture empowerment exhibition.
The official said counties have no excuse for not improving agriculture and transforming it into profitable entrepreneurship that can drive the economy.
He said FAO has partnered with the Embu county government to incorporate the youth into the agribusiness. The organisation targets 15 counties.
In addition, the global relief agency is pursuing policies to create proper linkages to bring on board marketers and financial institutions into agribusiness.
Arunga called upon the national and county governments to encourage farmers to embrace smart farming to cushion the country against the threat of food scarcity.
He said Kenya still remains a food insecure county and therefore every effort should be put in place to mitigate against undesirable effects emanating from climate change.
“As the world is confronted with the reality of climate change, our farmers should be encouraged to embrace smart agriculture," he said.
"Farmers should make sure they utilize the little rain we receive by undertaking agricultural practices like soil coverage, minimum tillage and crop rotation to ensure maximum utilization of the little moisture content available.”
Machakos county FAO representative Mark Matabi faulted the county and national governments for excluding the youth from agriculture.
He said despite young people fresh from college possessing great potential to boost food production, successive governments have never put into place policies and incentives to woo the youth into taking farming as a business.
Matabi said the country is staring at a human resource crisis in the sector with 10 per cent of extension officers set to retire without any replacements in sight.
“The ratio of extension officers to farmers currently stands at 1:120. Unfortunately, the majority of these officers are nearing the mandatory retirement age and will soon be leaving the service without any replacement," he said.
"We can use these youth to fill these gaps by roping them into the sector where they can offer extension services to farmers in areas such as spraying, ploughing and training.”
