Youth in Kajiado County have been urged to embrace agribusiness to tackle unemployment and boost food security.
According to Paul Mbugua, Chairman of Latia Agri-business Institute, the agricultural sector has a huge opportunity for employment creation that can help absorb hundreds of unemployed youths and improve their livelihoods.
Mbugua challenged the youth to change focus and take up courses on agriculture and food production to gain skills that will enable them to start their agricultural enterprises and thus become self-employed.
Speaking during the launch of the institution’s Strategic Plan in Kajiado County, the Chairman revealed that training youth in agribusiness and establishing links to markets is key to development, economic growth, and food security.
“There are immense opportunities in the agricultural sector; here at Latia we focus on enabling youth and women to gain skills that will enable them to create jobs and boost food security.” Said Mbugua.
Charles Macharia, Latia Agri-business Institute Managing Director, added that the youth are trained on climate-smart and sustainable farming practices, integrated pest management, record keeping, enterprise farming, financial credit access, market linkages, and post-harvest management.
“We not only campaign for youth to embrace agriculture, but we also empower them through training and capacity building to enable them to start up their enterprises.”
He further revealed that the institution focuses on youth food production through the use of biological systems that minimise the use of pesticides to ensure that the produce is safe for consumption.
Macharia said that apart from training, the institution also links the youth with markets for their produce.
Virginia Ngoiri, a farmer from Kibiko Ngong, encouraged the youth to embrace farming as there were a lot of opportunities in agribusiness instead of chasing after elusive white-collar jobs.
She added that through the training she received at Latia, she is now able to produce safe products for consumption and has a ready market for onions, cucumbers, and lentils, which she grows at her farm.
By Rop Janet