Migration: an option, not a necessity
Youth (18-35 years) constitute 40 percent of the population in Kiambu, a peri-urban area in close proximity to Nairobi, Kenya. Kiambu offers a vibrant agricultural sector, but despite the meaningful employment and agribusiness opportunities it holds, agriculture witnesses low participation from the youth segment of the population. A combination of challenges including poor access to land and financial resources and a general negative perception of agriculture seen as hard work and unprofitable contribute to reinforce youth’s disengagement in the sector.
A study conducted by FAO found that 51 percent of the migrants from Kiambu are 29 years old or younger. Youth migrate to other parts of Kenya, and internationally, primarily to seek better employment opportunities and pursue a better life. Yet, the departure of young men and women poses significant challenges to agriculture-based livelihoods, mainly because the average age of farmers is 60 years old, and this raises questions about the future of rural economies in Kenya.
Migration is an intrinsic development process. The decision to migrate is determined by various factors including personal aspirations and underlying social, economic, political and environmental conditions. The study found that households with returnees are the most likely to own or cultivate land (30 percent), and that many of these returnees have invested in Kiambu. Similarly, the remittances sent by migrants have been invested in their areas of origin. Notably, remittances sent by international migrants emerge from the study as the most likely to be invested in agricultural activities, such as the purchase of livestock or land and in local agribusinesses. Tapping into these financial resources, as well as into the skills, knowledge and technical know-how that returnees and migrants bring can open up new opportunities for agribusiness growth and make the sector more appealing to the young people who do not seek migration as a pathway for their future.
In fostering peer-to-peer learning and information sharing, FAO organized learning tours to farms in Kiambu County and its surroundings for 681 youth and 45 extension officers. This learning experience aimed at boosting youth’s motivation to tap into opportunities along the agri-value chains and acquiring skills and knowledge to enable them to scale up their agri-enterprises.
E-learning tours
the once arable lands that fed the city of Nairobi, are now converted into modern flats to provide housing for a growing middle-class population. This continued subdivision of land into uneconomical sizes that cannot support commercially oriented enterprises has affected agriculture since the small farms cannot produce enough food and generate adequate income to sustain households; Agricultural land has in fact shrunk from 65 percent in 1986 to 35.2 percent in 2014 making it imperative to increase value-adding capacities and maximise value chains potential in promoting decent employment opportunities.
On arrival, the young farm owners provided guided tours and demonstrations of good agricultural practices and shared their experience of growing their business and becoming successful agripreneurs. Through the tours, the youth gained practical knowledge of the agribusiness environment and had the opportunity to discuss ideas for the growth and sustainability of their enterprises. After all, it may take just one good agribusiness idea to transform youth’s perception about agriculture and agribusiness.
One may ask, why peer-to-peer learning? It is simple. Youth want to see where the money is coming from and that ”Ukulima sio Ushamba” (agriculture is not archaic) or poverty driven.
For example, Elius, a pig farmer who started his agricultural enterprise with only one sow and a boar encouraged the young participants to engage in pig breeding since it can be a profitable agribusiness venture, it is not land intensive and there is both high demand and good prices for pork meat and its products. In his case, returns range between 30 to 45 percent of capital invested.
Lucy owns an indigenous vegetables farm which produces 1 000 bundles of vegetables per harvest selling at Sh. 10 per bundle, thus earning up to Sh. 10 000 per day (USD 100). Gitau owns a multi-story garden farm made of 250 multi-storey gardens with onions, kales, spinach, indigenous vegetables and strawberries. He trains other farmers on this technology by offering installation services and a three-hours training. Finally, Ziwani Poultry farm owned by Haroun imports chicken and duck eggs from all over the world to improve Kenya’s indigenous (Kienyeji) chicken and at the same time offering incubation services at Sh15 (USD 0.50) per egg.
Despite these successful stories, access to market remains a dominant barrier to youth’s engagement in agriculture in kiambu, as well as in many other rural areas around the world. Creating an enabling environment for young farmers to sell their produce and, at the same time, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to benefit from broader commercialization trends is thus key for the effective development and sustainability of the agriculture sector.
Given Kiambu’s proximity to the capital, new opportunities are emerging as urban markets are growing (from rural towns to larger cities), linking nearby rural areas in commercial value chains. As part of the capacity building activities, FAO has provided trainings to youth on the concepts of value chain development, value chain analysis & mapping and market assessments.
Agriculture holds a huge potential for the creation of employment for youth in Kenya through value chains development. Migration is an essential part of rural transformation and a pathway that some rural youth will continue to choose. It is however essential to promote opportunities for bright local futures so that migration does not have to be a necessity and youth may also thrive in rural areas.