President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday officially launched the 4K-(Agricultural) Clubs which will be implemented across all schools in the country.
Speaking at the launch of the two initiatives at Jamhuri Park in Nairobi County President Uhuru said ENABLE Kenya and 4-K Clubs fit into the various farmer empowerment initiatives being implemented by the Government among them the Aquaculture Business Development Programme that is being rolled out in 15 counties.
4K stands for Kuungana, Kufanya, Kusaidia Kenya loosely translated as coming together, to act, in order to help Kenya.
The 4-K clubs enabled learners to acquire basic introduction to farming concepts at primary school level.
Using school gardens, pupils were taught how to tend to crops and rear animals.
These Clubs, however, died off in the late 1990s.
The President unveiled the rebranded 4-K Clubs with a call to County Governments and stakeholders in the agriculture value chain to increase their support for efforts to empower the youth in agribusiness.
“In addition, I note with appreciation the prioritization of initiatives to build capacity in modern agribusiness technologies and to provide access to affordable and high quality inputs. I note also that numerous on-going agricultural projects have integrated components for the youth; and a number of them have been designed and specifically tailor-made for the youth,” President Kenyatta said.
Over the last two decades there have been attempts to revive the clubs at primary school levels but without a national steering plan.
In February this year, the Cabinet chaired by President Kenyatta approved the revival of yester years popular 4-k clubs saying this will interest more children in Agriculture and usher in techno-savvy Agriculture players.
“The return of the 4-K Clubs will focus on the value chains in the agricultural activities and include other thematic areas namely Environmental Conservation, Healthy Living & Nutrition, Civic Engagement, and Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM). The 4-K Clubs will provide a holistic approach to positive youth development (PYD) at home, school and the community by building on the strength of the youth as active agents to community development,” said the Ministry of Agriculture.
The 4-K Clubs are expected to go hand in hand with the newly rolled out Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) and is also said to be in line with the government’s Big 4 agenda.
“This initiative is in line with the Big 4 Agenda, particularly with regard to food and nutrition security ,and seeks to incorporate children participation in its roll out and implementation,” added the Ministry.
The Ministry of Agriculture is gearing up towards the implementation of the 4K-(Agricultural) Clubs across all schools in the country following an approval by the Cabinet and official launch by the President.
Cabinet said this will interest more children in Agriculture and usher in techno-savvy Agriculture players.
ENABLE Kenya, funded by both the Government of Kenya and the African Development Bank (AfDB), seeks to build the capacity of 10,000 Kenyan young people involved agribusiness to enable them create employment opportunities for 50,000 others.
Besides training and capacity building, a large proportion of the Kshs.2.2 billion ENABLE Kenya kitty will be disbursed to beneficiaries as interest-free loans amounting to Kshs. 500 million to finance start-ups, and Kshs. 900 million in low interest credit for existing youth enterprises.
Also included in the kitty is a Kshs. 800 million risk guarantee provision to buffer financial institutions that provide commercial loans to entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector.
Speaking at the launch of the two initiatives at Jamhuri Park in Nairobi County, the President said the 520 youth to be trained this month will each receive financing of between Shs 500,000 and 1.5 million as start-up capital.
4k clubs, which died in the early 1990s, engaged in sustainable agriculture through hands-on activities in the schools’ demonstration gardens.
Over the last two decades there have been attempts to revive the clubs at primary school levels but without a national steering plan.
The Chief Administrative Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry Anne Nyaga, who will be spearheading the programme under the stewardship of CS Peter Munya, welcomed the reintroduction of the 4K clubs saying it will see to it that all children have access to knowledge of agriculture.