Sexy Agriculture? The way to lure youths to agribusiness

 Some two years ago I got a chance to attend an agribusiness Fair courtesy of my AGEC/AGBM department and a mushroom project I was showcasing. The fair organized by  Universities, Business and Research in Agribusiness and Innovation fair(UniBRAIN) and Pan Africa Agribusiness and Agro-industry Consortium(PanAAC) sought to bring to fore the all issues encompassing agribusiness as far as the  agribusiness teaching methods,entrepreneurship ,SMEs developments and all that entails business incubations is concerned. Among the key speaker included Dr.Manu Chandaria, Dr. Assetou Yaye, Executive Director, ANAFE, Anke Weisheit, Innovator Indigenous Knowledge ,Mbarara University of Science & Technology, Amon Anderson, Acumen Fund and Associate Director, Mr. Gillad Millo(Amiran Kenya) among others.


  One particular presenter caught my attention and she is none other than Joan Mwangi Founder and Chair, FEWA  and winner of the Best SME in Kenya award 2009. She came swaying to the podium to talk about how to lure young people in to the agribusiness sector  and summed her talk on one word,sexy agriculture.


I am borrowing the same to strike a relation as to why youths shy away from agriculture/agribusiness. For most of them, a mention of agriculture/agribusiness rings such a bell in their minds.

Looking at the challenges in these twin sectors could shed light on the same.
First of all the system of our education seems to be a jail in itself, geered to producing  white collar jobs seekers and not blue jeans jobs creators and innovators. Most young people would rather  hoop from one office to another in search of an elusive  job instead of spending the time in thinking of business ventures they could start. Again, for those that succeed  in becoming entrepreneurs, agriculture/agribusiness never features anywhere in their business ideas. 

 So why is this so?

Despite agriculture being the backbone of our economy and contributing close to 21.4% of our GDP, it presents a myriad of challenges to these youths in form of:

• Lack of access to credit facilities as the interest rates on loans(unsecured) are way too high.
• Pathetic infrastructure as entails availability of irrigation facilities,storage,transportation and land acquisition means.
• These challenges among others makes youths feel agriculture as such a drab thing.  And only when we give that youths a leeway to farm will we make them love and appreciate agriculture.

Want to make agriculture/agribusiness sexy to generation Y, bring in good infrastructure, affordable financing and effective policies on the same and we sure will be feeding the world!

Some light at the Kenyan Agricultural tunnel?

Finally the goverment has decided to give agriculture a greater say through the proposition of a new Agricultural bill, to replace Chapter 318-Agricultural Act, which has been in operation since 1st July,1995 with an exception of  the former Northern Province where its effectiveness commenced on 8th, June 1963. the Act reads in the Introduction part thus: "An Act of Parliament to promote and maintain a stable agriculture, to provide for the conservation of the soil and its fertility and to stimulate the development of agricultural land in accordance with the accepted practices of good land management and good husbandry". Find a copy of the Act here .
Its 55 year or so span has in to a greater percentage contributed to the weakening of the  backbone of Kenya's economy as it contributes to 24% of the GDP and employs 80% of the population. As per last years Cabinet  meeting resolution, five Bills were meant to replace the 131 or so bills during the meeting scheduled for February.As per the document proposal, the Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries ministry could be better merged in to one ministry. Similar case relate to Regional Development, Lands, Environment, Water and Irrigation, Forestry and Wildlife and Co-operative Development) being part of the merged “Ministry of Agric Parastatals constituting  Fisheries Regulatory Authority, Crops Regulatory Authority, and Livestock and Livestock Products Development Authority  whose mandate is to develop and regulate all trade in animals and animal products.

 Agricultural Sector Finance Board taking over the activities of Agricultural Finance Corporation   and  Agricultural Marketing Board replacing the  National Cereals and Produce Board .Among the  bill drafters include:

•  Prof Githu Muigai (now Attorney General)
• Prof Shellemiah Keya, a professor of Agricultural Economics and once a time the  vice chancellor of Moi University
•  Mr Seno Nyakenyanya, the PS, Ministry of Cooperative Development.                                              

The New four Bills are under the main umbrella  Agriculture 2011 are:

•  National Agriculture Research Services (NARS) 2011
•  Livestock 2011
•  Fisheries 2011
•  Crop Bill 2011 

The February month is just around the corner. Lets wait and see what turn the Agriculture Act takes!

Permaculture: Introducing the agriculture with a sustainable element

UN secretary Ban Ki Moon announced 2012 to be the year of sustainability. 

In line with this, agriculture comes in the picture as the focus of farming becomes intertwined and the concept of permaculture comes in place. This is a concept being brought to the fore to the public under the Permaculture Research Institute (Kenya). It entails a combination of food security and environmental sustainability as can be witnessed in the coining of the word from “permanent” and “agriculture” by Bill Morrison, a biologist and his student David Holmgren  in the 1970’s . It goes beyond laid down techniques just as it applies beyond agriculture. To find his inspiration, click . Its building ethics are: Earth care, People care and fair share and how to apply them to the gardens, land, economies and overall nature.
                   

There are 12 principles outlined and just to mention a few which includes,

• Integrate rather than disintegrate.
• Work with nature rather than against it.
• The problem is always the solution.

In a nutshell it integrates human habitats into natural landscapes and utilizes natural processes to provide sustainable food production, electricity and other basic human needs.

To start with, one observes the nature of the ecosystem and how various components interplay at work. The mere fact that ecosystems are stable and resilient, there is basically no waste as the waste of one species translate to the feed of the next species. Plants, humans and wastes are able to react together in a closed like system.
                                                                                
The system thus works as follows:
A crop cycle begins with seeds from the previous harvest being planted. Multiple plant species or what is commonly known as intercropping is incorporated. These are done at three levels:
Companion planting. As the name suggests, these plants supplement each other in areas of pests control, pollination and the fixing of nutrients. E.g. flowers, garlics, legumes and vegetables


Watch out  for part two,  as i bring to fore a practical Permaculture case for better understanding.......

Introducing Agribusiness Management!

My blog has a lot of tracking and one thing I thank God for the presence of my wide flat nose that can tell of a smell yards away. I am already a graduate in Agribusiness Management but I still find it hard to get a placement in an agribusiness company and I have people asking me what I really have in papers. Agriculture or B Com? Not that am so serious with getting a real job (this is a story for another day) I even complimented the degree strength by boggling my mind with calculations courtesy of Kasneb. Most of my friends have resulted to other careers but I still hold on to this love. So in a realm am just trying to help others realize what Agribusiness entails.

By definition, agribusiness should constitute the food and fibers composition in line with the products or services of retailing, wholesaling and processing in the farms. But. In less developed countries like Kenya, the definition would take the form of food agro industries inclusive of the processing and distribution of both inputs and outputs. The main distinction with agriculture could be with anything that is within the “farm gate” while in agribusiness all products and services before and after farm gate exclusive of final distribution of the same to consumers. The chart below demonstrates 

So in a nutshell agribusiness consists of three components namely:

• §  An agricultural sector
• §  A production sector
• §  A processing-manufacturing sector.

Combining these components with Drucker’s definition of management of “management is a multi-purpose organ that manages a business, manages manager and manages worker and work” gives rise to the phrase Agribusiness Management.

So what is its scope?

i) Industry sector as either

§  extractive (fishing, forestry, picking of fruits)

§  Genetics (deals with breeding of plants, chicken, seeds, goats and cattle. Also issues to deal with climate change, environmental factors and human skills come in handy.

§  Manufacturing: converting the raw materials into finished goods. E.g  cotton spinning

ii) Commerce sector

Takes these produced goods from production to consumption with the help of activities like grading, storing, packaging, transportation, insurance among others.

iii) Management sector

Through responsibility and performance by providing direction of the firm towards achievement of its goal, keeping farm efficiency at a manageable level, combating competition, encouraging innovation and constituting a good relationship base with the other segments in the society.

So what are the expected career opportunities in agribusiness management?

As per the definition above, an agribusiness pursuant ought to be able to find or create opportunities internationally and nationally as sales representatives in chemicals, seed and fertilizer companies, food companies, and agricultural experts among others. So go ahead, you agribusiness manager, to expand your frontiers.