” Welcome to West Pokot, the land of hidden treasure.” That was the warm welcome from Philip Tingaa, the Director in the Department of Agriculture, when the Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship (CABE) team arrived at Kilimo House in Kapenguria Town.
In West Pokot, agriculture is evolving, with promising ventures taking root in mango and potato farming. In Lomut, Pokot Central Sub-county, mango production is thriving, primarily through indigenous varieties.
CABE’S visit
A visit to the Lomut Cooperative Society revealed small-scale mango drying efforts using solar dryers. However, current capacity remains low, only eight dryers processing just 1 kg each per day.
Women and youth have shown great interest in mango drying, but their efforts are limited by insufficient equipment and poor access to markets. Lomut cooperative believe Utafiti Sera YEC House could play a transformative role in linking cooperatives to better drying facilities and broader market opportunities.
A section of the beautiful hills in the West Pokot area. PHOTO/ CABE
Younger women are also actively engaged in seedling production, offering them a viable livelihood option.
Potato farming has taken hold in the highland areas of Tapach, Lelan, and Siyoi. With a short maturity period of three months, this crop allows for 2–3 harvests annually. Youth are increasingly participating due to quick returns.
However, a major challenge remains, limited access to clean, certified seeds. Addressing this by supporting youth in seed multiplication could unlock employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
“Potatoes are a key value chain in this county,” Tingaa noted. “They take a shorter time, and our youth enjoy the quick returns. The market is readily available.”
Yet, many youth still shy away from agriculture, opting instead to invest in motorcycles for transport businesses, a sector that is now oversaturated and less profitable.
Tingaa believes that with proper guidance and access to technology, youth can be encouraged to join agriculture and support older generations.
Infrastructure remains a critical barrier. Poor roads and seasonal flooding restrict transport, leading to postharvest losses and low market prices.
To mitigate this, the County Government is planning to set up a juice processing plant in Sigor and distribute 200,000 improved mango seedlings (Apple and Ngowe varieties) for both processing and premium markets.
Key take aways from visit
Key takeaways from the CABE visit indicated that youth prefer short-cycle crops like potatoes due to land access limitations and the need for quick returns. Land ownership remains a significant hurdle, especially for long-term investments like mango farming.
“There has been an issue with land ownership. The elderly still cling to land, but this is being discussed at the community level. The reality is, even after their children complete school, there are no jobs,” Tingaa explained.
While mango value addition offers significant potential for youth employment and income generation, potato processing remains largely untapped. Unfortunately, interventions specifically targeting youth in agriculture are limited.
Despite the availability of disaggregated data, the county lacks a centralized youth agribusiness database and does not have a domesticated Youth in Agribusiness Policy or strategy.
Nonetheless, partnerships like the one with the Ajira Digital Program are making a difference. Through the Makutano Youth Empowerment Centre, youth are gaining digital skills and learning how to access online work opportunities.
Shining Fibian Domongole’s story
One shining example is Fibian Cheptoo Domongole, a young potato farmer from Lelan Ward. Since beginning farming in 2022, she faced early struggles with oversupply and poor prices due to market timing.
“I did not know how to market my potatoes. There was no price information, demand was low, and I would sell at throwaway prices, resulting in huge losses,” she recalled.
The Utafiti Sera YEC IV capacity-building training in Nairobi was a turning point. Through exposure to youth from Nyandarua and strategic networking, she learned to stagger her production and gained access to better market insights.
“We now share market information via a WhatsApp group. We know who needs potatoes, where to sell them, and at what price. We are now making profits,” she said.
CABE Project manager Lucy Adoyo enjoys water at the stream in West Pokot as Faith Domongole watches. PHOTO/CABE
Fibian also maintains detailed farm records, helping her manage costs and plan better. Her impact extends beyond her farm, she has mobilized over 100 youth to engage in potato farming, teaching them to save, lease land, and view agriculture as a serious business.
Today, many youth are involved in planting, weeding, harvesting, and transport, even without owning land.
Her next goal is to venture into certified seed multiplication. However, she needs capital and is calling on the county government and partners to provide technical training, certified seeds, financing, and reliable market linkages.
Conclusion
West Pokot is steadily unveiling its potential, with youth and women at the heart of this quiet agricultural revolution. While challenges such as land ownership, infrastructure, and limited access to certified inputs remain, the spirit of innovation and resilience among the county’s young agripreneurs is unmistakable.
Through strategic interventions, collaborative efforts, and empowerment programs, West Pokot can transform its agriculture sector into a vibrant engine for employment, food security, and economic growth.
Makueni County like many other regions of Kenya, face the challenge of youth unemployment and underemployment.
However CABE’s field visit revealed a vibrant ecosystem of young people actively engaged in agriculture and agro-processing, demonstrating their innovation, resilience, and community development to drive economic growth and create jobs not only for themselves but for other youth.
Key Observations from the Field
Entrepreneurial skill development : There exist ICT hubs in Makueni County that provide opportunity for youth to acquire ICT skills, business skills and networking, coaching and mentoring. However, due to high operation costs of ICT hubs only a few are active.
Diverse Ventures: The visit showcased a range of youth-led initiatives in mango value chain, from crop production (including grafting, nursery management, pest and disease control, harvesting, sorting, grading, storage) to value-added processing (like fruit drying, packaging and branding). Some MSMEs were also involved in providing agricultural services, such as extension and training to youths, Aquaculture, fish feeds, formulation and production, bee keeping and honey production and providing market linkages. This helps the youth MSMES to diversify source of income, especially when mango is off season.
Innovation and Technology Adoption: Youth MSMEs are leveraging technology to improve their operations. This includes using mobile apps for skill development, communication with customers and other stakeholders, input access, information, market access, adopting e-marketing, and exploring digital platforms for networking with other agri- prenuers and for financial transactions.
Collaboration and networking: Youth MSMEs were collaborating with Makueni County Government on acquiring extension services, training and benchmarking with other agri- MSMEs and participating in policy development.
Community Engagement: Several MSMEs are located within their communities, creating local employment opportunities for other young people and contributing to local economy. They are also actively involved in knowledge-sharing through digital platforms and capacity building initiatives.
Government and Stakeholder Support: The visit underscored the importance of County government and stakeholder support in fostering the growth of youth-led MSMEs. This includes: enhancing use of research evidence to inform policy processes, co-creating youth friendly policies that enable Youth led MSMEs to thrive eg removing bottlenecks for business formalization and registration, punitive taxation, providing access to finance, training, infrastructure development, and market linkages.
Challenges and Opportunities: While the visit highlighted success stories from a few youth –led MSMEs, it also revealed significant challenges. These include limited access to finance for startups and up scaling, lack of relevant and specific technical skills in the value chain, difficulties in accessing markets and meeting quality standards, particularly for value-added products, and the need for better infrastructure, including facilities for cold storage and transportation and processing, lack of data driven youth specific policies co-created by youth themselves that address their needs.
Examples of Successful Youth-led MSMEs
Faith Mumo – (Iviani Farm): Mango production value addition and Aquaculture
Faith Mumo is a young agriprenuer and CEO of youth led Iviani Farm in Makueni County, She has ventured into Mango production, aggregation and processing particularly mango drying. The dried mangoes are sold to local supermarkets and internationally.
Faith began the business journey three (3) years ago, with the desire to address high poverty levels as well as post-harvest mango losses in their 20 acre farm. The land belongs to their father and has about 970 trees.
The business employs about 50 people (20 male and 30 female), with 30 employees being on permanent terms. Casual employees are engaged when the mango season is high with a lot of labour requirement. Out of the 50 workers about 50% are youth, and are engaged in different field activities such as agronomy, fruit picking, ripening, sorting, weighing, washing, peeling, slicing and stacking, processing, branding and packaging.
CABE Team poses with Iviani Farm team at Iviani Mango Processing firm. PHOTO/CABE
The business is legally registered and operates formally facilitating for access to credit facilities, training and market both local and international markets. The business received support from Makueni County government facilitating learning through a benchmarking visit to Burton and Bamber who is an agro-processing entrepreneur, in Kenya.
County government through department of Agriculture Further, provided a platform for showcasing Farm products in Agricultural shows, exhibitions and field days, thus helping the Iviani Farm to network with other businesses creating visibility for local and international recognition. The active participation of Ivian Farm especially Faith Mumo in Utafiti-sera capacity building carried out by CABE and PASGR improved her business skills especially in record keeping, networking and marketing. Faith Mumo supplement her mango venture by diversification into aquaculture- producing fingerlings which are sold to fish farmers across the Country, feed formulation to reduce feed costs, and bee keeping for honey.
Joseph Musyoka – Digi Seedlings of Wealth Tree Nurseries and Landscapers. Green environment, youth employment and income generation. Joseph Musyoka, a high school teacher from Mukuyuni, Kaiti Constituency in Makueni County, is a thriving agroforestry entrepreneur. In January 2023, he started a small nursery on land given by his father, focusing on ornamental and grafted mango seedlings. Initially a weekend hobby, his enterprise transformed after engaging in Utafiti Sera’s capacity building program.
Through the utafiti-sera training, Joseph shifted to market-driven production, including rootstocks and improved seedlings. In 2025, he expanded from 600 to 45,000 seedlings. His business now provides jobs for two permanent staff and six casual workers, contributing to local youth employment. Joseph is leveraging technology and digital platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram to increase sales targeting over 200 buyers from Kilifi, Mombasa, Taita Taveta, Kwale, West Pokot, and North Eastern Kenya.
CABE Executive Director Patrick Odame, DIGI-seeds founder Joseph Musyoka and CABE Project Manager Lucy Adoyo pose for a photo. PHOTO/CABE
He proudly says, “There is wealth in the soil. Agribusiness has brought me more profit than my teaching job. It’s clean money, and I plan to focus on it full-time in the future.” As part of his social responsibility, Joseph donates at least 1,000 seedlings every rainy season to local schools and community groups to support fruit production and environmental conservation.
He has also formed three community groups with over 90 members, offering them training on seed propagation and linking them to markets. His advice to young people: “Start small and grow bigger with time. Consistency and knowledge will take you far.”
Makueni County Director of Agriculture, Mary Muteti : County Engagement with Youth for enabling policy environment for agri-prenuership
The Department of Agriculture in Makueni County is actively engaging youth in agriculture and agribusiness through pro-youth policies and strategies aimed at increasing their participation in the sector.
Key initiatives include: Makueni County Youth Policy (2020): Aims to empower youth and boost their involvement in socio-economic and political activities, with a focus on making agriculture and agribusiness more appealing.
Smallholder Farmers’ Access to Public Institutional Markets Strategy (2023–2028): Enables youth women and persons with disability (PWD) to benefit from 30% of the AGPO reserve designated for supplying local products to public institutions.
Makueni Agricultural Sector Working Group: A collaborative platform with strong youth representation that addresses sector challenges, improves market access, strengthens supply chains, and shares targeted opportunities for youth. Currently, CABE Africa is the only known organization in Makueni specifically focusing on youth in agribusiness. With its proven track record in the mango value chain, CABE has significant potential to expand its impact by engaging youth in other value chains across the county.
Alice Wambui, CEO Makueni Tech & Innovation Hub: Leveraging innovation and Technology adoption to unlock entrepreneurship opportunities
Makueni County has established a functional Youth Information System aimed at equipping youth with digital entrepreneurial skills, networking and market linkages through several key initiatives:
i. ICT/Youth Empowerment Centres: A central ICT Innovation Hub at Wote Green Park, supported by the Ajira Digital Program, offers youth free working space, Wi-Fi, computers, and technical support. The hub promotes digital skills training, e-commerce networking, and service delivery. There are 17 such centres countywide.
ii. Skills Training – Ujuzi Teketeke Program: This program provides practical skills training, mentorship from master craftsmen, and startup kits to help youth launch their own businesses.
iii. Youth Sector Working Group: A platform uniting the county government and partners to coordinate youth programs, enhance funding, and ensure inclusive public participation.
iv. Digital Platforms and Networks: Agribusiness information is shared via local administrators and WhatsApp groups. The Makueni Youth in Agribusiness group, initiated by Utafiti Sera YEC, has 945 active members and serves as an e-agribusiness and commerce hub. The County Director of Agriculture (CDA) also shares opportunities within the group.
The ICT hub employs young people as trainers of the youth who have dropped out of school or graduated from tertiary institutions and with limited skills for job market. ICT hub has enhanced the use of technology in business. Alice Wambui says: “This online platform connects farmers with buyers, enabling them access to wider markets and secure better prices.”
4.0 Recommendations for Action 4.1 Strengthen youth led MSMEs Access to Finance Collaborate with financial institutions to develop youth-friendly financial products and services, including tailored loan schemes and grants.
4.2 Provide relevant Technical Training
Invest more in youth skills development customized programs such as vocational training focused on value chain targeting agricultural production, agro-processing, marketing, and business management /Business development services (BDS). These should include Business coaching, mentoring and matchmaking events.
4.3 Improve Infrastructure Invest in rural infrastructure, including roads, storage facilities, processing facilities, transport and access to reliable clean energy. The facilities can be co-managed by the youth to improve their participation in decision making. This initiative can improve market efficiency and reduce post –harvest losses.
4.4 Promote Market Linkages Support the development of market information systems through E-Youth learning centres, and resource centres in accessible areas in wards, e-commerce platforms, and collective marketing initiatives such as youth saccos and cooperatives.
4.5 Foster Collaboration Encourage collaboration between youth-led MSMEs, Government and private sector, civil society and research institutions to enable co-creation, sharing of research data, research evidence to inform decision making. 4.6 Policy Support and advocacy Advocate for youth friendly co-created policies that support youth entrepreneurship in agriculture and agro-processing.
Conclusion The field visit to youth-led MSMEs in Makueni County demonstrated the great potential of young people to drive business growth and create decent jobs in the agricultural value chain.
By using utafiti -sera approach to youth issues through co-creation of solutions with youths, based on research evidence collected by youth themselves to inform policy processes and decision making, we can address the identified youth challenges and providing targeted support to youth led MSMEs. Furthermore, we can also unlock this potential and create a more sustainable and inclusive decent job opportunities for Makueni County.
The success show cased these young agri-entrepreneurs is not just a story of individual success; but a testament to the inherent power of youth-led innovation and the transformative potential of agricultural sector in the 21 st century.
Venue: Waridi Paradise Hotel and Suite, Nairobi, Kenya
Date: October 17-18, 2024
The Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship (CABE Africa) in collaboration with the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research is hosting and implementing the Utafiti Sera (Research-Policy) Project on Youth Employment Creation in Agriculture and Agro-processing Phase IV (YEC IV). This project is funded by funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and aims to enhance research evidence uptake in Agribusiness and Agro-processing and focuses on building more inclusive policies and practices for the agri-based micro, small, and mediumsized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya.
In order to catalyze uptake and application of research evidence to inform policy and decision making by MSMEs, capacity building through short trainings and development of learning materials was prioritized as one of the objectives of YEC IV project. Capacity assessment of 106 MSMEs was undertaken and administered using a digital capacity assessment tool in July 2024 for the selected Agri-based MSMEs in Makueni, Nyandarua, West Pokot and Kakamega counties to identify opportunities and challenges in mango, potato and avocado value chains. The study revealed capacity gaps that required a design of capacity strengthening plan for effective MSMES participation in successful sustainable businesses, entrepreneurship and policy process.
The key assessment areas included: Sales Marketing and Quality Control, Use of Information and/or Technology, Business Relationships and Networking, Resources and Financial Management, Leadership and Governance. These assessment areas were informed by the synthesis of evidence from secondary literature, prior rapid assessment of the MSMEs, and input from stakeholders at the Launch of Utafiti-sera Youth Employment Creation in Agriculture and Agro-processing (YEC IV) in March 2024.
The capacity strengthening or building envisages to improve an individual’s or organization’s ability “to produce, perform or deploy” by enhancing capacities in four strategic areas including Operational, Management, Financial Management, and Personal capacities for a strong and successful entrepreneurship. While some capacities are gained through career experience, through educational avenues, some capacities are strengthened through learned responses in the business environment.
The capacity building intervention envisages to address the identified capacity gaps in the following areas:
Market access and market linkages
Digital platforms for marketing
Market information
Quality standards for agro-processing
Appropriate transport logistics
Resource mobilization
Financial literacy and financial management
Digitalization of records and e-payment
Leadership skills and governance
Objectives
To facilitate knowledge sharing among MSMEs in Mango, Potato and avocado value chains, including entrepreneurship practices, leadership and governance, technology and innovation, Finance, marketing and market access for products
To Create a platform for collaboration and linkages among MSMEs to access accurate and timely access information on markets and innovation to improve entrepreneurship
Promote the utilization of research evidence to inform policy in agribusiness.
Expected Outcomes
Co-created short training curriculum for use by MSMEs to improve entrepreneurship.
A platform created for collaboration and linkages with industry players in specific enterprises in targeted counties.
A culture created on the of use of evidence to inform and influence policy in decision making at county level.
Approach
The convening will adopt PASGR’s innovative Utafiti-Sera approach to which is an innovative evidence- informed policy making approach to issues identified by MSMES in the capacity assessment study to co-create capacity plan.
The two day training workshop will be held on Thursday, 17th and Friday 18th October, 2024 at Waridi Paradise, Kilimani, Nairobi, approximately 40 participants are expected to attend drawn from MSMEs from Makueni Mango value chain, Nyandarua Potato value chain, West Pokot, Mango and potato value chain; and Kakamega Avocado value chain, PASGR and CABE staff and facilitators.
Youth Employment Creation (YEC IV) Training Programme
Time
Day 1 – Thursday 17th October 2024
Facilitator
8:00-8:30
ARRIVAL & REGISTRATION
Susan Malema
8:30 – 9:00
Introduction: Introduction, Expectations, and climate setting
This book provides an all-inclusive approach to farming in small spaces, especially in urban, and peri-urban areas. The book contains food recipes of African indigenous vegetables and fish from the Lake Victoria region of Kenya.
The ‘Women Food Entrepreneurs book’, consisting of 8 chapters, is based on a research project undertaken by multidisciplinary experts between 2015-2019 in city slums in Kisumu, Kenya and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The Women Food Entrepreneurs (WFEs) research project was implemented by social and natural scientists from the Netherlands, Germany, Kenya and Burkina Faso, as well as with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and community-based women groups. The project aimed to strengthen women’s food entrepreneurship in city slums based on an understanding of the interactions between soil quality, food production and marketing for vulnerable groups.
The book focuses on six themes comprising constraints on women food entrepreneurs, soil, water, and food quality interactions. It also integrates women’s knowledge on food production and processing to add value and enhance business skills. This chapter presents important ways to improve market access, contribute to the development of enabling policies for women food entrepreneurs as well as share lessons and best practices for upscaling (Ch 6). In efforts to contribute to development of the private sector, the book presents opportunities whereby women farmers can strengthen their position in the value chain and business knowledge and skills and networks.
In view of the findings, the book proposes recommendations for consideration in policy making processes. A few outstanding recommendations include first the need to recognize women food entrepreneurs’ role in the provision of fresh foods to city populations. Secondly, women food entrepreneurs’ innovative traditional and scientific knowledge in food production, processing and marketing should be valued, documented and upscaled. In this regard, this book highlights two stories of change. In the first one, a leading female trader champions the use of organic fertilizer among WFEs and subsequently gets nominated as a finalist for the Agrofood Broker of the Year Award. The second story highlights different policy moments in which some of the books’ recommendations have informed policy making by Kisumu County government.
Finally, the book presents the project’s impacts which can be upscaled. A notable impact is the ‘Connector-model’, which arose from the continued involvement of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs); the Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship (CABE), Nairobi; Victoria Institute for Research on Environment and Development (VIRED) International, Kisumu; Ėtudes Actions Conseils (EAC) in Burkina Faso; Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), the Netherlands; Netherlands Agro, Food &Technology Centre (NAFTC) Africa; Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics(IBED), the Netherlands; Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, Germany; Dresden University of Technology, Tharandt, Germany; BodemBergsma, the Netherlands; Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Burkina Faso; Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR), and University of Amsterdam (UvA), the Netherlands. The model has successfully connected WFE groups with each other as well as with the public and the private through innovation and capacity building. The result is stronger synergy among the Women Food Entrepreneurs for an inclusive business model. The Annex, provides illustrations of food recipes of African indigenous vegetables and fish from the Lake Victoria region of Kenya. The food recipes are both English and dholuo.
