Dynamics and Encounters of Rural Youth Farming: Experiences and Lessons from Kabete Lari Sub-County, Kenya

Globally, the rural youth are the future of food security and sustainability, yet only a few of them see a future in rural agriculture. Unfortunately, many governments and interventionists have not taken rural youth in farming seriously as they are considered uninterested stakeholders, since majority especially those educated opt for white collar jobs in urban areas. In Kenya, despite concerted efforts by various stakeholders to involve rural youth in agricultural activities, less has been achieved due to lack of interest by the youth themselves, high pressure on arable land, lack of access to credit and many other productive resources necessary for rural farming. This paper focuses on the dynamics and encounters of rural youth farming in Kabete Lari sub-county. The study adopted the sustainable livelihood theoretical framework. The researchers employed a mixed research design method. A sample size of 111 rural youth farmers were selected through simple random sampling. Parent farmers were conveniently sampled for the interviews and focused group discussions. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively using SPSS version 21.0 while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study found that 70% of the rural youth engaged in farming in the study area. Over 80% of the rural youth engaged in rural farming were able to meet their daily basic needs and save some money in SACCOs for future investment. More so 65% of the rural youth engaged in farming, preferred dairy farming. Despite many achievements, rural youth also faced some constraints in rural farming particularly, during post-production due to unavailability of ready markets for their products. The study concluded that youth farming was offering a wide potential for rural youth by creating employment, encouraging savings, reducing food expenses and encouraged self-reliance among themselves, however not many rural youth engaged in farming activities. The study recommends that government should sensitize, provide financial, technical support and mainstream rural youth in venturing into farming for the realization of substantive sustainable livelihoods