The Embu County Government has entered into partnership with Habitat Intertrade, a marketing organization for marketing of horticultural products produced by local youth.
The contractual partnership will see over 400 youth trained on best agricultural practices in horticultural farming.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the County executive for Agriculture, Ann Nyaga said the county government will ensure the local youth fully benefit from the program.
“The County government in conjunction with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will oversee and do follow ups on the actualization of the contract between the youth and the marketer,” Nyaga observed.
Nyaga said the initiative was birthed during Youth in Agriculture Summit held in Embu in February this year.
“We are focused on creating and enhancing market linkages so as to help the youth engaged in agriculture to market their produce,” she added.
Patrick Maina, representative of FAO in Embu said so far, the organization has trained 7, 800 farmers aimed at enhancing production and bringing profitability to farmers.
Maina said that the organization will help the youth go beyond production by ensuring they get market for their produce.
“With contract farming, the youth will be assured of profitability for their agricultural activities hence we are
partnering with the county government to oversee this project,” he noted.
On his part, Ken Kimathi, CEO Habitat Intertrade said they have pooled their resources together to buy farm produce from the youth and other farmers.
He said the demand for the horticultural produce is very high and has encouraged many young people to get involved in agriculture instead of waiting for white colour jobs which are not forthcoming.
He said in this partnership with Embu county government, they are going to establish seed bed for establishing various crops for farmers to ensure quality and health varieties.
Kimathi said the organization will also establish collection centres on every ward, where horticultural produce from the contracted youth will be collected.
Joshua Muriithi, a beneficiary of the program appreciated the county government for ensuring its successful
implementation.
At the same time, Muriithi thanked the government for connecting the young with financial institutions for affordable financing.
By Kimani Tirus
