The Participatory Integration of the Rural Youth in Sustainable Agriculture for Sustainable Development of Kamara Division, Nakuru, Kenya
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Date
2001-04
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
The right and obligation to authentic development is one of the principles enshrined in the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human rights. And the issue of social integration of every individual,
especially the disadvantaged people, in development was loudly expressed at the 1995 Copenhagen
World summit for social Development' and later adopted as a guide by the Kenyan National Poverty
Eradication Plan. These are just but harbingers that things, somewhere, were not moving the way they
were expected to be.
Looking back we see that, throughout history people have evolved natural units of settlement to
meet their social, cultural and economic needs. This was the origin of rural communities where people
strive for self-sufficiency and sustainability through available material, non-material and, most
importantly, human resources inclusively.
Today's rural communities seek to develop into more viable economic units within modernizing
nations. How authentically this has to be brought about in the rural Kenya like Kamara division, remains
the main concern. Contemporary popular development is mistakenly trapped in the local and global
confusion characterized by economic, political and cultural dominance and influence that lead to social
alienation. Those with no means of survival suffer deprivation the most. Unfortunately, the rural youth
lie in this category.
According to the Welfare Monitoring Survey of 1994, it was estimated that 12.6 million
Kenyans lived below the poverty line. In rural areas, the incidences of poverty were 49%2. The effects
of this is multidimensional destitution, which manifests itself in form of deficiency of material, social,
economic and cultural needs and rights which an individual, household or community hold as vitally
important for their survival. Deprived people experience food insecurity, insufficient income,
deprivation of knowledge, low quality of life, lack of shelter, social inequality, lack of essential social
services and reduced life expectancy. Since the youth constitute the biggest section of the rural
population, they are the most suffering.
Agriculture is the mainstay of livelihood for many of Kenyans. Since alternative sources of
subsistence such as employment, industry, business and informal sectors outside agriculture are scarce,
it employs more than 80% of the rural population. Small-scale farming, whose nature is subsistence
(food security and reasonable income), dominates the Kenyan agricultural sector. Among the multipronged
problems that face subsistence fanning are ecological, economic, political financial, sociocultural,
technical, demographic, organizational and environmental. Inequalities in international trade
policies also add fuel to the problems. Individually or combined, these problems destabilize the smallscale
farmers and their ever scarce resources. This leads to unscrupulous exploitation of resources and unsustainable livelihood and future. We should not be shocked then to see poor fanning practices,
forests and catchments inversion and destruction, environmental depletion, unpredictable weather
fluctuation and recurring famines. The crown of all is rural massive unemployment, abject poverty and
social alienation, which pave a way to rural-urban drift.
Here begins people's vulnerability. Where does the future lie then? Which kind of legacy will
the future generation receive; will they be able to meet their needs from the same resources
uncompromisingly and live a decent life worth of their dignity if we fail to prepare now? What does all
these call for? In fact this imposes a very serious social question for us all. It is a prophetic call requiring
a critical listening in order to come up with effective interventions.
The possible effective answer is participatory integration. Investing in people in collaboration
and partnership should be the way forward. Proper mobilization and indiscriminate integration of the
whole local population in harnessing the locally available resources) is essentially important to the
sustainable agriculture and rural development process. Thus the youth will be able to act as carriers of
the sustainable future.
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Keywords
Rural Youth, Agriculture, Sustainable Development, Nakuru, Education, Poverty, Hunger