The launch of the 4-K club programme for primary school children is geared towards encouraging young people to change their mindsets and join agribusiness.
According to the Youth Communication and Competitions officer at the Youth in Agriculture unit at Ministry of Agriculture Livestock Fisheries and Cooperatives Jane Njiru, the 4k clubs programme aimed at encouraging primary school pupils so that they could have a positive attitude towards agriculture.
Launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on June 4, the initiative is part of an ongoing effort to make the young people engage in agribusiness through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives.
“The aim of the 4-k club programme is to address the negative perception towards agribusiness and reception of agriculture as a career line by the young people,” she noted while meeting stakeholders today at Kakamega Golf club.
According to Njiru, agriculture could not only provide food but could also be an avenue to make money in future and lucrative careers that young people could engage in.
She encouraged the youth to join 4-k clubs to get opportunities to learn not only matters of agriculture, but also nutrition, environment, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (stem) subjects that are crucial for development.
“We are using the positive youth development model which builds on competency, confidence, connection, contribution and character development,” she added.
She said the programme targets 31,218 pupils in at least 36,250 schools both private and public countrywide over a five-year period.
Njiru said the objective of the programme is to provide a platform for pupils to showcase their talents, innovations and technologies that could be disseminated for use by others.
“The programme will not only provide a platform to identify, recognize talents but it will also celebrate and reward excelling 4-k clubs,” she said.
She stated that 4-k beneficiaries would undergo extensive capacity building, develop their own proposals for activities they would like to participate in, prioritize intervention areas and finally participate in the presidential award scheme and knowledge showing.
By Solomon Ageng’a
