Youths in Nakuru County have been urged to embrace farming and feed their country instead of seeking elusive jobs in unlivable towns, with high rents and expensive foodstuffs instead of working at farms to feed the nation.
The youth leader in the County, John Kanyi, said he was disheartened by the anguish and misery many young people are undergoing as they seek jobs in urban areas, and yet, there seems to be more opportunities in the rural areas for those will to venture into farming.
However, he urged the county governments to recognize the importance of agriculture as the area with uppermost employment opportunities and increase their efforts to transform the sector by mechanizing it.
“With enough support from county governments, agricultural initiatives will boost employment, and even now, it is the major employer of jobless youths who have recognized its volumes,” said Kanyi.
He said he was impressed by jobless graduates who have set aside their pride and are now willingly weeding maize farms for daily wages and some of them earn as much as sh.600 per day or more depending on capacity.
But, he said, the majority of the youths don’t view agriculture as a guaranteed employer because they’re aware of the risks involved, which the county governments have not yet addressed.
“Unless there’s some form of transformation to make farming attractive a number of young people rue what they have seen their peasant parents go through, and that’s the main reason they fear venturing into farming,” he added.
The youth leader observed that the demand for food was tremendous due to increased urbanization and health-conscious consumers who are seeking high quality products such as capsicum, and other exotic vegetables like broccoli, which elderly farmers are reluctant to grow.
By Veronica Bosibori
