Hydroponics Roundtable

Date: 31st Oct – 13th Nov 2021
Venue: Youth Innovation & Empowerment Centre, Tana River County

The Director General
Kenya School of Government,
P.O. Box 23030-00604, Lower Kabete, Nairobi
Tel: +254-20-4182311 | Fax: +254-20-4182306
Email: directorgeneral@ksg.ac.ke | Website: www.ksg.ac.ke

In Kenya only about 18% of the country has arable land. That leaves 82% of the land that is not arable thereby putting the country at risk of food insecurity. This calls for us to start looking at alternative methods of farming that do not follow the conventional ways of farming by embracing science and technology that makes that possible. Agriculture still remains the largest single sector in the country in terms of creation of employment, engagement of economic activities for our people, and in provision of opportunities for our youth to not only self-improve themselves but to also create jobs while addressing the issues of food security and safety.

Our ASAL regions are specifically adversely affected in term of agricultural production and therefore opportunities for creation of jobs in the agricultural sector becomes limited unless we adopt the latest in science and technology that allows our people to be active participants in this sector and also address the issues of food security and safety. The youth are the direct beneficiaries of this demonstration Centre. The most important and defining characteristics of ASAL conditions include: Highly variable and poorly distributed rainfall, scarcity of basic resources, a fragile ecosystem that is susceptible to degradation and lack of suitable infrastructure for development.

Thus, Kenya's ASALs (Baringo, Garissa, Isiolo, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu, and West Pokot) are characterized by severe natural resource limitations, rising population pressure and inadequate management of the existing resource base, which combined constitute the basic problem confronting the areas and its people. This therefore calls for innovative approaches of doing business which are inclusive. The young people are especially should be included in county discussions as they are one of the demographic groups that are affected by challenges outlined above.

This concept paper therefore seeks to respond to two key issues: youth inclusivity in county dialogue and decision making and youth economic empowerment through agribusiness value chain.

This activity is jointly supported by UNDP, KSG and County Government of Tana River. It is a governance activity that first aims at providing an opportunity for the young people of Tana River to engage with the county leadership including the Governor. This engagement will be delivered in form of round table where youth will seek to hear to youth programmes that were anticipated in the CIDPs, what has been done, gaps and challenges. Issues of AGPO, youth employment opportunities will also be discussed. An initial coaching session will be held where the youth will organize themselves on issues they will discuss with the Governor and how they will present them. This will also include potential areas/programs for youth empowerment including hydroponic farming.

The second part of the activity is straining on hydroponic farming which is vital for socio-economic empowerment of young people. This is a build-up of ongoing discussions between the county governments on how they can better respond to the needs of young people. It is demonstrates how governance is key inclusivity of community populations and how this translates to implementing activities that emerge from this critical dialogue.

Seven Steps in this Activity

1. Identification of the participants which will build from a youth database that KSG, UNDP and county government worked on earlier.
2. Preparatory meetings for youth governance round table.
3. Hold governance round table discussions with county leadership on youth issues.
4. Training of the beneficiaries in both theory and practical of hydroponic science and technology.
5. Establishment of the production infrastructure through the construction of the greenhouses.
6. Organizing marketing strategies for the food produced in the project and this includes the setting up of 4UBYUS outlets that takes the food produced to the consumers directly.
7. Lastly the development of a sustainability strategy for the project so the benefits from the project has a long lasting impact on the community.

This ecosystem allows for the adoption of the science and technology and by engaging youth, we are able to create jobs, agri-businesses and address the issues of food security and safety.

Date and Venue

The activity will take place on 28th Nov – 11th Dec 2021 at the Youth Innovation & Empowerment Centre, Tana River County.

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