Practical Action, UK registered development charity and the Mastercard Foundation have partnered to establish the Resilient Agriculture that Works for Young People (RAY) project to benefit more than 100,000 young women and men in the western region of Kenya.
This comes at a time there are reports of the young people leaving rural communities to urban areas in their numbers in search of rare employments opportunities something that has had profoundly effects on food production in the rural communities.
Therefore to help avert this threat to food security, RAY project will in the next five years help the youth, through a mentorship approach, accelerate their adoption of sustainable farming practices.
According to Susan Maina, Practical Action Country Director for Kenya, the young people, who account for over 35 per cent of the country’s population and 60 per cent of its total labour force, will be given access to markets and supported to build strategic relationships with key players to build their own successful farming enterprises.
This will increase income and job opportunities for 70,000 women and 30,000 men aged between 18 and 35 in target areas.
“I am thrilled to be overseeing work that can provide a blueprint for the whole of the Kenyan rural economy,” she said.
“For years, farming has been perceived as employment of the last resort and the flow of young people from rural areas to cities has left our agricultural sector struggling to meet demand,” she added.
The young people will also work closely with Practical Action to kick-start businesses and improve their access to knowledge, training, and finance.
“This project intends to show how we can reverse the rural-urban youth migration trend, not only for the 100,000 people we’ll be working with, but for many thousands more around the country,” said Susan.
Access to dignified and fulfilling work
The project is being delivered in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation under its Young Africa Works strategy, which seeks to enable 30 million young people in Africa to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
“We will be implementing the work in partnership with Mastercard, which is exciting. They share our vision for a future where young people can find profitable work in an attractive, resilient agricultural sector.”
Project deliverables
Generally, when successfully implemented, the project will provide the young people with the skills to start and operate their agricultural businesses sustainably and effectively.
It will also open doors for youth-focused agribusiness initiatives by including them in the development plans of county governments – thus a better operating environment and encourage community members, particularly those involved in agriculture, to support young women’s involvement in farming.
This is besides enhancing the youth’s access to education and training to help them adopt regenerative agriculture techniques and enable up to 85 per cent of them to get affordable and appropriate financial products to start and expand their agricultural businesses.
It will also make it easy for them to acquire land and farming tools by establishing relationships with suppliers and landowners.
Regenerative agriculture and a circular economic
The new project will take learning and successes from Practical Action’s Transforming rural economy and youth livelihood (TREYL) program in Homa Bay and Kisumu County. There, regenerative agriculture and a circular economic approach is encouraging young people to adopt farming and develop rural businesses.
