With the recent partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Agricycle Global, Kenya and Uganda can expect improved fruit and vegetable value chains.
Data from the Kenya Ministry of Agriculture shows that agribusiness absorbs 18 percent of formal employment and 60 percent of total employment in the country.
According to the ministry, small-scale farmers account for 70 percent of Kenya’s total exports and contributes 27 percent to Kenya’s GDP through linkages with manufacturing, distribution and other service-related sectors.
However, figures from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) suggest that Kenya’s youth population prefers white collar jobs to agriculture.
The situation is similar in neighbouring Uganda, where agribusiness accounts for approximately 23 percent of GDP and employs about 60 percent of the labour force, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
With youth making up about 78 percent of Uganda’s population, youth unemployment at 13.3 percent, and 34 percent of the rural population living below the national poverty line, young Ugandans have been advised to move into agribusiness.
In their response to the agriculture needs of the countries, FAO and Agricycle Global have agreed to work together in nurturing youth groups in Kenya, and refugees and host communities in Uganda in the development of fruit and vegetable value chains.
The partnership, Development Diaries understands, is expected to scale collective multi-stakeholder efforts, and bring about country-owned and country-led innovative solutions to help target groups to improve their livelihoods.
‘In order to address issues such as rural exodus, unemployment, and food and nutrition insecurity, it is critical to engage and invest in youth, and this is a priority for the subregion’, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Eastern Africa, David Phiri, said in a statement.
‘In this regard, collaboration with Agricycle Global Inc. would add value given its unique business model, and its local presence in the targeted areas of FAO projects’.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Agricycle Global, Josh Shefner, said that his organisation’s objective was to eradicate extreme rural poverty, with a focus on offering women and youth market-based solutions to food waste.
‘Our collaboration with FAO will play an important role in ensuring we deliver on our promise to be part of the fight towards ensuring rural women, rural youth and refugees are economically empowered, able to make decisions and knowing that they are seen’, Shefner added.
Photo source: FAO Eastern Africa
