CURTAINS FALL ON AGRIBUSINESS YOUTHS CONFERENCE
The Western Kenya Youths Agribusiness Conference 2018 edition has finally come to an end at the Bukura Agricultural Training College in Butsotso South ward Lurambi sub county Kakamega County.
The Conference which witnessed participation of 800 youths from Siaya, Bungoma and Kakamega counties as well as universities sought to encourage youths in the three counties and beyond to engage more in agriculture as an economic activityΒ as opposed to engaging on part time basis or depending on white collar jobs for employment.
Siaya County Governor H.E. Cornell Rasanga who attended the event’s official closing ceremony thanked the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) for organising a successful conference for youths in the Western region. Governor Rasanga called on both the county and national governments to pull efforts towards successful agricultural sector in the region and beyond saying youths needed to be self reliant to fix the problem of high unemployment.
Kakamega county deputy governor H.E. Prof. Philip Museve Kutima thanked the youths for their active participation and challenged them to practice skills learnt at the conference when they get back to their respective counties. He also encouraged them to pass on the experience to other young people who did not get an opportunity to attend.
Kakamega County Youths Affairs Advisor in the Office of the Governor Mophat Mandela joined the rest of the speakers in thanking the organizers and participants for a well organized and attended conference. He urged his fellow young people to practice agribusiness as a way of alleviating poverty and unemployment amongst them. During the conference, the youths who attended made declarations that Bungoma, Kakamega, and Siaya County Governments shall enact effective youth agribusiness policies and legislation, in line with the national and international policies and best practices and that the three counties shall consider full youth involvement and participation in formulation and implementation of the enacted policies and legal frameworks. The youths also declared that the three counties shall cooperate in creating better livelihoods for youth through more gainful employment opportunities in agribusiness and related support services. In addition, they agreed that the youth involvement in agri-business development projects should be manifested as a 35% quota from the County Ministry of Agricultureβs development budget.
The two day event was attended by senior officials from both levels of government, development partners and youths among other stakeholders.