Youth involvement in agripreneurship as Nexus for poverty reduction and rural employment in Kenya

Abstract

Vicious cycles of poverty and unemployment among rural youth in Kenya have necessitated the search for an alternative sustainable solution. Whereas the youth population continues to surge, the majority of them are reluctant to venture into agricultural enterprises. This study reviewed the prospect of youth’s venture in agripreneurship for poverty reduction and improvement of rural employment in Kenya. The review was based on a comprehensive literature review related to youth engagement in agripreneurship that was conducted from December 2020 to May 2021. Secondary data was gathered from databases such as Science Direct, Scopus, CAB abstracts, MDPI, Springer, Google Scholar, RefSeek, SAGE, John Wiley, and Taylor and Francis. Findings indicate that youth engagement in agripreneurship has the potential of increasing food production in Kenya. Consequently, this will resolve the challenges of increasing unemployment and poverty rates among the growing population in Kenya but also bolster food security. There is a need for entrepreneurial education and training of rural youths to increase the chances of uptake of agriculture as an enterprise. Further, modalities should be drawn by the government to provide graduating students with start-up capital for agripreneurship ventures. Similarly, the government should establish a developmental fund to support the start-up process of agripreneurship to establish agricultural incubation centres. These will help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Vision 2030 goals of transformation of smallholder agriculture from subsistence to an innovative, commercially oriented, and modern agricultural sector while eradicating poverty and providing employment opportunities to the youth.