This was the focus of a youth-in-agriculture forum hosted by Co-operative Bank of Kenya in Kisii, where young people engaged on practical ways of turning farming into sustainable enterprises.
The forum, dubbed “Inspiring the Next Generation of Kenyan Agri-preneurs,” focused on real opportunities available to young people across the agricultural value chain.
The engagement comes at a time when Kenya’s agriculture sector continues to provide livelihoods for millions of people, while young people face growing pressure to find meaningful employment and income-generating opportunities.
Rather than limiting agriculture to traditional crop and livestock production, the forum sought to expose young people to the business opportunities that exist across the value chain, including production, processing, marketing and other agribusiness ventures.
The Kisii engagement is part of a broader effort by the bank to engage entrepreneurs and young people on practical business opportunities and financial solutions that can help them build sustainable enterprises.
For many young farmers, access to finance, markets, knowledge and modern technology remains a major challenge. Bridging these gaps can help transform agriculture from subsistence activity into commercially viable businesses.
The focus on entrepreneurship is particularly significant in Kisii, a region where agriculture remains central to household incomes and the local economy. Young people can play a critical role in modernising the sector by adopting new technologies, improving productivity and developing innovative ways of adding value to farm produce.
The forum also underscored the importance of equipping young people with practical business skills alongside agricultural knowledge. Successful agripreneurship requires farmers to understand costs, markets, pricing, financial management and customer needs.
Co-op Bank has increasingly positioned its engagement with customers around enterprise development, including forums that bring together business owners and bank experts to discuss challenges affecting their ventures. The bank recently held an MSME forum in Nairobi where customers and banking experts discussed ways of building thriving businesses.
The Kisii forum therefore provided an opportunity for young people to learn, network and explore ways of making agriculture work as a business.
The push to encourage more young people into agribusiness also comes as Kenya seeks to increase youth participation in productive sectors of the economy. With the country’s population remaining relatively young, creating opportunities within agriculture could help address unemployment while strengthening food security.
Agriculture offers opportunities beyond the farm. Young entrepreneurs can establish businesses providing inputs and machinery, offer transport and logistics services, process agricultural products, develop digital solutions for farmers or connect producers to consumers.
For those already engaged in farming, better access to financial services and business knowledge could help them move from small-scale operations to more structured enterprises.
The Kisii forum highlights the growing need to make agriculture attractive to a generation that is increasingly looking for businesses that can provide both income and long-term growth.
As Kenya continues to seek ways of creating employment and expanding opportunities for young people, turning them into agripreneurs rather than simply farmers could provide one of the pathways towards a more productive and commercially driven agricultural sector.
The Co-op Bank initiative is therefore not just about encouraging young people to farm, but about changing how they perceive agriculture — from a traditional livelihood to a modern business opportunity.
