Working with Youth through Innovations in Agriculture

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1 Working with Youth through Innovations in Agriculture Photo: Milk processing at Siongiroi Dairy Plant - one of two implementation sites for Amtech Technologies EASYMA 6.0 proof-of-concept innovation JANUARY 2016 This docum ent was produced for the information of the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Feed the Future Kenya Innovation Engine

2 Feed the Future Kenya Innovation Engine (KIE) is a five-year program that identifies, fosters and brings to scale innovative market-driven solutions to persistent food insecurity, under-nutrition and poverty. The program also strives to partner people who design new concepts, products and services with investors who can maximize their commercial potential. As part of its focus on identifying cutting-edge innovations with potential for nutritional and livelihoods impact in communities, the Innovation Engine assesses the extent to which proposed innovations will positively impact youth and other vulnerable populations a critical component of determining the innovations desirability. The program carefully prioritizes innovations based on needs identification and market analysis, as well as gender and youth inclusion, as a basis for recommending USAID funding and technical assistance. KIE s strategic focus on youth is founded on the premise that youth inclusion is paramount to the sustainability of innovations, and that the youth are indeed the future of entrepreneurship and economic development in Kenya. KIE s youth inclusion strategy is two-fold: targeting youth across respective value chain nodes in agriculture, and creating employment for youth or ensuring that youth benefit directly from selected innovations. Cumulatively for FY2015, KIE-supported innovations, all at proof-of- concept phase, have employed over 73 youth (aged below 30 years) comprised of 23 females (32%) and 50 males (68%), both at corporate and farm level. In addition, 21% of the 23,000 smallholder farmers who have adopted KIE-supported innovations are youth. Below, are some examples of KIE supported innovations that focus on, or provide opportunities for youth inclusion: Amtech Technologies: The EASYMA 6.0 application is a software-driven innovation synchronized with digital weighing scales for milk, and real-time transmission of data to farmers phones. A robust, flexible and scalable web-based solution, this proof-of-concept innovation allows dairy farmers to weigh milk at designated buyer collection centers, and get a receipt for the delivery, which is immediately reflected at the buyers main office, as well as at the farmers SACCO. The innovation is designed to incorporate women and youth up to at least 30% of the target population. So far, this innovation has directly and indirectly mainstreamed youth into the dairy value chain in Uasin Gishu and Nandi Counties, where EASYMA 6.0 is being tested. The innovation has has seen youth take up value chain roles such as bulking of milk, transportation of milk to the cooperative, and even taking up dairy farming as a business. By providing access to extension services, financial products, and even livestock insurance through several state-of-the-art modules incorporated into this web and mobile-based system, EASYMA is helping to increase productivity per cow per annum and sustenance of wealth, making dairy farming an attractive enterprise for the youth. The innovation s contribution to boosting efficiency and transparency in the dairy value chain and decrease risk is also promoting youth participation as young people develop confidence that they can effectively monitor their dairy ventures remotely, even from cities if necessary.

3 The EASYMA system can be queried for any services thus capturing the youth s desire to use the phone based Short Message Service (SMS) to check their balances and monitor their financial statements, among other services. Once scaled up, EASYMA will allow decision-makers to have gender and age specific information at their fingertips, further setting the stage for more meaningful participation of these groups in the dairy value chain. A chilling plant manager for example is able to clearly tailormake a case for specific extension service to a youth group based on the history of their milk deliveries. Wanda Organic is a woman-owned company whose owner and innovation champion, Ms. Marion Moon, is only 31 years old. Wanda Organic successfully tested the use of Plantmate Organic Fertilizer in Machakos and Makueni Counties, with the aim of setting up local production facilities in the region. The products, which comprise the breakthrough results of over 40 years in biotechnological research, increase crop yield by improving ability to resist diseases, and restore soil health by unlocking nutrients and improving water retention capacity, among other benefits. Marion is committed to providing employment opportunities to youth who are studied and passionate about agriculture/agronomy for field consultancy to our farmers. Wanda currently has a staff of 10 full time employees and two interns. The average employee age is 25 years old. In 2015, following Marion s KIE-sponsored participation in the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) held in March 2015 in Abu Dhabi, ICRAF invited her to provide expertise on "Evergreen Youth Business Initiatives" at a regional forum in Malawi. Here, Marion made valuable contributions to discussions aimed at demonstrating how more youth can be engaged in and encouraged to join agriculture in the African continent and beyond. Marion s engagement with the Innovation Engine has also provided opportunities for the entrepreneur to market the innovation to the relevant departments, with whom discussions to market and scale-up the innovation are ongoing. Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) and Caytree Partners: Access to finance is a key hindrance to the meaningful participation of youth in the economy, including agribusiness. ALIN is supporting Kenya s agricultural sector by offering market information and farm records management services. FARMIS aims to empower smallholders, who rarely keep records, to develop and nurture a culture of record-keeping for decision-making at the farm, county and national levels. FARMIS harnesses the power of technology, particularly the mobile phone, to deliver as well as gather information from farmers. Data is regularly updated and available on 24-hour basis at the touch of a button online or via a mobile phone. FARMIS also enables farmers to generate on-demand customized reports on the status of their enterprises, produce seasonal profit and loss statements, project the income potential of farming

4 enterprises, access real-time market information, access inputs and other services, develop a farm activity calendar, link with peer farmers to aggregate produce for bulk sales, and access real-time farming tips. The mobile record keeping innovation is instrumental to youth as it will assist them to develop and retain an income statement for their micro-enterprises. This data will enable them to monitor the financial status of their entities, as well as provide the much need financial records to access finance. The innovation has been successfully tested in Meru County and is currently poised for scale-up. Caytree Partners is an applied research firm founded and managed by Karibu Nyaggah, a Kenyan who is in his early thirties. The innovation, Caytree Financial, is a powerful, easy-to-use, accounting solution that allows small agri-businesses to manage their finances and access the capital they need to grow their operations. A cloud-based solution, it allows users to quickly and easily track their business and personal finances with little accounting knowledge. The innovation also functions via SMS and is therefore accessible to users who do not have a computer or a smartphone. A one-of-a-kind tool in Kenya, Caytree Financial uses analytics to connect clients with lenders while reducing friction in the credit application process. Using the tool, for the first time, small agri-businesses owners will have a simple way of accessing potential lenders through Caytree Financial s loan application, and lenders will have access to credit-worthy clients. The tool generates proper financial statements including a balance sheet and profit and loss statements all of which are important to lenders. Using this tool, youth and other smallholder farmers can access finance, as well as markets, key challenges faced by youth in agriculture. Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (KENDAT): KENDAT s innovation entails establishing agricultural mechanization hubs with the primary intention of increasing operational farm power available at the smallholder farm level. By providing accessible, reliable and knowledgeintensive mechanization support, hubs where agribusiness trust-relations can be nurtured and sustained, KENDAT is helping smallholder farmers to fully exploit agribusiness opportunities. The hubs are uniquely designed to attract and be managed by youth, provide the necessary operational and business vibrancy while lowering the cost of business transactions between smallholders and their business supporters. This innovation will enable youth access modern machinery, tools and equipment at a minimal fee during the pre-planting, harvest and post-harvest periods. The innovation will also create employment for youth as they will be required to operate these machines across a number of farms throughout the year.

5 Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI): KEMRI s innovation is the design and clinical evaluation of UjiPlus - a school meal with deworming properties - as an innovative solution to intestinal parasites. The innovation, which uses with local fruit (paw paw) extracts, which have demonstrated deworming properties, directly targets youth and has been successfully tested among primary school children in Nandi County to determine its efficacy compared to conventional deworming treatments. It is anticipated that the innovation will be scaled up through a national school feeding program. In addition, the innovation is poised to provide economic opportunities for youth through the revival of a papaya factory in Marigat, Baringo County. The factory will be a source for papaya seed as raw material for UjiPlus. Furthermore, the innovation and revival of the factory is expected to promote the production of papaya seedlings in the community; primary schools and youth groups in the county have been identified as producers for the crop.