Over 300 youth join Nakuru's agriculture sector to meet demand of extension officers

Paul Kihara, a Communication and Media graduate, is armed tooth and nail to serve farmers.

As he took an oath on February 27, his goal, and that of over 300 other youth, was to ensure to fill the current gap in extension services due to mass retirement of agriculture officers.

Currently, in Nakuru, the ratio of extension officers to farmers is 1:1200, which when compared to several years ago the recommended ratio has risen by half.

This has particularly strained the sector, leading to many farmers opting for private service providers as new entrants bank on the internet for information.

Kihara says that his public relations skills have enabled him over the years to engage with farmers across a diverse spectrum alongside his marketing skills which are not limited to a particular field.

“I’ve previously worked in an agro vet and have for a long time connected with other service providers who collectively, we’ve helped provide advisory services to farmers. We are expected to do the same and connect farmers with service providers in the inputs, financial, and farm and mechanization services,” he says.

The recently on boarded agri-prenuer and his colleagues have been fully equipped to provide advisory services to farmers and help the many who still struggle with market access as they shadow the current extension officers.

“There’s an information gap in the market and more so an in-person touch on how farmers access the market without being duped. As agri-prenuers our work is to fill this gap by providing the knowledge and searching for local and export markets for our farmers’ produce,” Kihara notes.

His counterpart Caren Cherotich, a Master of Science student of AgriEcon, adds that they are also supposed to help farmers move away from the subsistence model of farming, to a commercial model to increase their income and improve their livelihood.

“As we help farmers commercialize their ventures, we will be ensuring that they engage in smart farming and more so add value to their produce to avoid post-harvest losses,” she says adding that they’ve been equipped to check daily market prices of produce, from a national database, which will then help farmers with predictions of seasons and advise accordingly when to grow and when not to, to avoid market excess which almost always ends up in waste.

They two agree that this opportunity is set to help them improve their existing skills as they gain hands-on experience.

Deputy Governor David Kones during the commissioning exercise emphasized the critical role the agri-prenuers will play in strengthening agricultural extension services to boost productivity for smallholder farmers, improve their market access, and create sustainable livelihoods for themselves.

Seven agri-prenuers have been posted in each of the 55 wards and will be engaged for the next 18 months, working through the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP).