Last September, the Planning and Devolution ministry embarked on a youth empowerment project in the country’s major slums with Kibera as the starting point.
The ministry, under Cabinet Secretary Ann Waiguru, picked urban agriculture as one of the projects aimed at uplifting the lifestyle of dwellers in one of the biggest slums in Africa. Production of food locally and creation of employment was the principle goal.
And in less than four months, agriculture is taking a new shape for the slum which is estimated to have 2.5 million dwellers.
Many youth, who previously could have thought of engaging in criminal activities due to poverty and lack of employment, are fast embracing agriculture.
Most of the gardens are made up of sacks in a simple technology that does not require much outdoor space, and growing vegetables like sukuma wiki (kale) and spinach has been prioritised.
Al-Hadid Youth Group is a community based organisation which focuses on environmental care and waste management working with the local government as volunteers.
The group has 21 members (seven women and 14 men) who, apart from sorting and recycling waste collected in the slum, have ventured into farming.
The group has embraced agriculture in totality through the help of officers from the rebranded National Youth Service (NYS) which is under the devolution ministry.
According to the group’s chairman Ali Abdul Majid, waste from foodstuff collected and which can decompose is what is being used as organic manure for the gardens.
“It’s just four months now and you can see we have 147 sacks all full of sukuma wiki. NYS helped us with a 500-litre water tank which we refill every week as we use 20 litres of water in a day to water one sack,” he said. Majid discloses that the vegetable gardening has been booming with more youth coming for lessons to empower themselves. So far, he said, they have harvested three times in four months.
According to CS Waiguru, urban agriculture is fast transforming the lifestyle of people in Kibera. She says NYS service men and women have been tasked to empower slum youth through training and teaching of skills such as agriculture. This, she says, is part of the government’s social transformation initiative.
“Youth in Kibera are already reaping the benefits of youth empowerment projects including urban agriculture,” said Waiguru in one of her tweets recently.
Some of the gardens are being used as demo stands for urban farming. Apart from gardening, the youth also engage in chicken rearing.
Antony Wambua of Mizuka Youth Group says since the arrival of NYS in the slum, their group has seen the light. Wambua says the 12-member group now owns 100 chickens and more than 34 rabbits. They also run social amenities such as showers and public toilets which help them to earn a living.
The eggs from the chicken are sold to boost the income of the group. Wambua says the increasing income for the members has enabled them to start saving in a Sacco.
