Unemployment is among the problems that most developing economies are facing. These regions rely on agriculture for their livelihood and most of the farming systems are ineffective. Nevertheless, the agricultural sector employs the largest population in both the formal and informal. Self-employment through innovative ideas that develop products or produce cost-effectively, or a production process that is eco-friendly to promote biodiversity or value addition through processing, storage, packaging, or differentiation of the agricultural products is what is termed as agriprenourship. The aim is to make the production process affordable, sustainable, profitable, and optimal at the same time maintain the ecosystem.
Agreprenourship is highly evident in production technologies such as the PPT technology that has been promoted by the UPSCALE project in the region. The project has offered women and youth opportunities to participate in research, production, value addition, and marketing of the products produced under the system. Women have been able to produce organic products, control the Striga weed, and fall armyworms, promote soil fertility, prevent soil erosion, produce fooder, practice dairy farming, and production of Desmodium seeds. Through this, household food security has been attained, increased income, reduced dependency ratio, reduced poverty, creation of employment, and improved standard of living.
Agriprenourship is an important enterprise currently for the youths and women as it offers a range of opportunities from economic, social, and environmental benefits in the initiatives such as PPT farming in the UPSCALE project. Therefore, it is recommended that there is a need for Policy dialogue in both the seed and product value chains to create enabling policies that can upscale the PPT farming system, subsidize the inputs, and establish effective extension methods, advocacy, and lobbying government authorities to promote PPT.
Authors: Dennis Kimoso Mulupi, Esther Ng’ong’a, Winnie Oliech, Cosmas Kiprono, Fredrick Aila, Benjamin Ombok & George Odhiambo
Contact address: fredrick.aila@gmail.com
Institution: Maseno University, Kenya; www.maseno.ac.ke
Twitter name of the institution: @Maseno_Uni
Twitter link: https://twitter.com/Maseno_Uni
Available downloads
Agripreneurship is coming of age. Opportunities for Youth and Women Empowerment in UPSCALE PROJECT.
