The government has put in place all modalities to have more youth embrace agricultural activities as a means of living through technology and other modern measures to enhance agricultural activities in the country. Speaking at the University of Eldoret during this year’s Annual Agribusiness Trade Fair, the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Willy Bett said that the government is committed to improving the agriculture sector through various investments including facilitating youth to earn a living as opposed to the current situation where agriculture has remained a reserve for the middle-aged and the elderly in the society.
“In the area of technology the government is seriously investing in the youth bearing in mind that the average farmer in Kenya is aged sixty years and more and for us to sustain the agriculture sector going forward we need to bring in the youth,” said Bett.
He added that the government has recognized that to bring the youth into the sector, it has to embrace technology hence it has set aside Kshs 200 million to facilitate the young people to undertake agriculture as a business.
The CS further noted that the youth are being facilitated to participate in all levels of agriculture as opposed to primary production alone.
“We do not want the youth commitment to end at the primary agriculture level, but hook in at the chain either at processing level or marketing hence we want to facilitate them to participate at all levels that can earn them money noting that the only way the youth can embrace agriculture is when they realize there is money in agriculture,” he added.
At the same time, the CS said the government is committed to ensuring that agriculture becomes a viable business venture that can earn money for the farmers.
“As a ministry, we are trying to move agriculture from subsistence level to commercial level because we know our number one priority is food security in the country, but we do not want to end there as we venture in agriculture, despite the challenges facing the sector,” he said.
He noted that there are numerous challenges facing agriculture ranging from climate change, the cost of production and the technology used and the low level of mechanization among farmers that the government is now committed to addressing.
However, he pointed out that the government has launched a number of projects across the country to address some of the challenges among them a screening station for maize disease stationed at Naivasha that is coming up with maize seed varieties that are resistant to some maize diseases that have emerged and putting up of bull stations that are expected to improve on Artificial Insemination services among farmers to upgrade the cows and other breeds of livestock.
During the Trade Fair many exhibitors including seed companies, chemical companies and livestock production groups and companies that manufacture farm machinery exhibited the products and services.