Youth in Agribusiness

After a very successful live Training of Trainers in Kigali in January 2022, the first Youth Kick-Off workshop was conducted. The facilitation team was made up of  Agriterra business adviors Mikidadi Waziri and Emmanuel Kibet, and the chairman of NAJK Roy Meijer, who joined virtually.

A total of 4 organisations took part in this workshop. 1 cooperative (Limuru Dairies), 2 Cooperative Unions (BAMSCOS-dairy, FINTEA-Tea) and 1 national apex organisation (FF-SPAK). All these organisations were ready to implement the Youth in Agribusiness trajectory, and they have the opportunity to scale up with other partners such as Fairtrade (FINTEA), UNDP (FF-SPAK) and global communities (Limuru Dairies).

In this training, we developed SMART action plans and key take aways in the youth’s potential to champion sustainable production systems within their organisations. Also, the role of youth in combatting the impact of climate change in the agricultural sector was brought to attention.

Lastly, to increase youth involvement, three levels are involved :

1. a) Youth involvement in farming - young farmers
2. b) Youth involvement as experts - JJJ/Rural employment
3. c) Youth involvement in leadership - board of cooperatives and FOs

Our goal together was to form stable, structured and functional youth councils for the realisation of increased youth participation and a sustainable future for agriculture and cooperatives.