Deputy President William Ruto admires the hydroponics farming technology demo during the launch of the Kenya National Youth Week 2018 in Wote. KCB Foundation’s 2jiajiri programme and GIZ’s E4D/SOGA (Employment and Skills for Eastern Africa) programme supports training of youth in the innovative hydroponic farming technology.
By Jerry Abuga
Beneficiaries will undergo vocational training in hydroponics farming technology for a period of three months at Miramar International College, Kikuyu.
KCB Foundation, the German Development Cooperation through GIZ and the Government of Makueni County have rolled out a new food and nutrition security programme that will see 150 youth engaged in agribusiness.
The partnership through its 2jiajiri programme will sponsor the youth aged 18 to 35 years under the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service (M-YES) for a 3-month training on the innovative hydroponics farming technology at the Miramar International College, Kikuyu.
Hydroponics farming is a soil-less farming method, and a subset of hydroculture, where plants are grown using only a mineral nutrient solution in a water solvent. The crops mature within 2 – 3 months.
The beneficiaries will be equipped with hydroponics techniques of producing leafy vegetables, tomatoes, strawberries and livestock fodder among other food crops.
Upon completion of the training, the beneficiaries will undergo business incubation services offered by KCB Foundation. They will develop business plans and access discounted financing to construct greenhouses on land sub-leased from the Government of Makueni County.
The beneficiaries are part of the Skills and Enterprise Development project, an initiative between KCB Foundation’s 2jiajiri programme and GIZ’s E4D/SOGA (Employment and Skills for Eastern Africa) programme that offers scholarships for vulnerable youth in technical and vocational courses in Agribusiness, Building and Construction.
The Partnership and Government of Makueni County will jointly convene a round table forum for private-sector stakeholders within the county to facilitate internships, industrial attachments and job placements for 2jiajiri beneficiaries.
Speaking during the commissioning of the partnership during the launch of the Kenya National Youth Week 2018 in Wote, Makueni County on Monday, 6th August KCB Foundation Managing Director Jane Mwangi underscored the need for enhanced efforts towards providing technical and vocational courses to the youth, adding that this will play a great role in solving the current unemployment challenges in Kenya.
“With the reality of youth unemployment in Kenya, we in the private sector cannot just sit and watch, well aware that the government can only do so much. We must step in and step up the quest for creating more opportunities for self-employment for our youth,” she said.
Programme Director, Youth Employment and TVET Programme E4D/SOGA, Aregash Asfaw recognised the role the partnership will play towards improving SME competitiveness and economic opportunities among the youth in the County. “This partnership is a great example of how development partners, the private sector and the county Government are working together to solve youth unemployment”, she said.
The beneficiaries will be provided with practical-oriented vocational training, life skills, work readiness training and enterprise development skills necessary to drive self-employment and wealth creation in agribusiness.
“The agribusiness training under the food security initiative takes three months. Thereafter, the beneficiaries construct greenhouses and begin the actual production of the vegetables. The youth will be organised into groups and facilitated to enter into production contracts with large scale commercial off-takers and retailers such as supermarkets,” Ms Mwangi explained.
Makueni County Governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana commended KCB Foundation in its various efforts towards empowering Kenyan youth and contributing to the creation of self-employment opportunities.
He added that his Government had initiated youth-centric initiatives such as the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service to enable the youth take charge and shape their own destinies.
“We remain committed to supporting youth-led initiatives which provide pragmatic solutions to the myriad challenges our young people face today. Through partnerships with private sector corporates and foundations like KCB Foundation, we acknowledge the positive contributions and achievements that our youth can make towards our county’s socio-economic development, “said the Governor.
