Agriculture and Food Security

SEP, through its innovative Youth Self- help Agriculture Program, helps ensure food security, financially empowers youth, (girls and boys) provides valuable agricultural training and supports youth’s access to education.

SEP works with local families to dedicate a small per cent of the families’ own cropland to the care of a youth family member.

The child is then responsible for planting, maintaining, and harvesting this plot. After the basic food security needs of the family are met, all proceeds of crop sales from the child’s plot go to the child and are used to fund a portion of their school-related expenses. The families must commit to funding the remaining portion of the school expenses.

SEP’s Role:

• Coordinates the dedication of the plot to the youth family member
• Provides an initial allotment of seed to the youth to establish his/her crop
• Provides free fertilizer to the youth on an ongoing basis
• Provides the youth with technical training in high-yield farming techniques, including fertilizer application
• Provides market price advisory services for crop sales
• Provides ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the youth’s plot and his/her school engagement

Impact and Accomplishments:

• 125 youth have been able to attend primary and secondary that otherwise could not afford an education, out of this number, 35 have gone through tertiary education through the support from agricultural produce.
• Basic food security directly ensured for the said 125 families
• 353 youth have been trained in key agricultural-related areas,
• Over KShs.70,000 has been generated by youth for the support of their education in a period of 2 years
• 10 HIV/AIDs-related orphans’ school fees have been 100% subsidized by SEP

Ongoing Activities:

• SEP has introduced indegeniuos poultry farming, with only 5 youths in the pilot phase
• SEP has produced training curriculum for Agriculture and Agribusiness trainings
• SEP is currently developing intergrated soccer coaching games, that will enable linking of Agriculture and Soccer in the pitch
• Horticultural Programme is on going with such crops like maize, beans, ground nuts, bananas, indegenious vegetables and other legumenuos crops being planted. All these are done at the necleaus unit where SEP trains its members.

Planned Activities:

• Introduce Parma culture within the seven SEP local partner Schools
• Expand on indigenous poultry production within the community, targeting the youth – including young women
• Initiate mutual and objective collaboration with MIT-USA, to help on the technological approach in improving Agricultural activities, while also providing opportunities and space for Agricultural related research.
• Establish value addition/ processing unit, which will enable Agricultural produce processed into finished products, hence improve on the creation of employability and enterprise among the youth.
• Develop appropriate and professional Monitoring and Evaluation tool to help in the consistent evaluation of the programme
• Locally process own fertilizer/manure- this will reduce the cost of farming, while maximizing on the profits. This will be done through the waste collected from SEP;s existing and functional Ecosan toilet within Oyugis market.
• Enhance resource mobilization activities including Funding opportunities to help sustain the programme.
• It is envisaged by SEP leadership that the above cited planned activities are suitable points for collaboration. We therefore reach out to MIT – D-Lab (Class of Agriculture) to consider sharing any inputs in this context.