THE URBAN RURAL MIGRATION

Most young people loath farming.  They mistakenly view it as a dirty exercise that should be undertaken by the old and less educated people. Consequently, after completing their studies, they migrate to the urban areas in search of white collar jobs and other income generating opportunities. Reversing this unfortunate trend has not been a walk in the park. Even with the devolving of funds to the counties in line with our New Constitution, urban centres have continued attracting young graduates and school leavers in droves.

It is therefore gratifying to learn that a few young people are defying this tradition. Instead, they are venturing into agribusiness, generating a tidy sum of money in the process.  These thriving enterprises are in dairy, fruit and vegetable farming as well as   bee keeping among other areas.  Every cloud as the adage goes has a silver lining. When Covid-19 hit our beloved country, the demand for food in many urban households under   lock down hit the sky.  The farmers engaged in agribusiness in various parts of the country therefore got a handsome return  on  their investments.

Gradually, this is driving back many people (both young and old) rendered jobless by the ruthless pandemic to the rural areas.  They have realized (albeit in the hard way) that agribusiness is paying and they can   comfortably   make their ends meet in the rural areas where the cost of living is low.

Whereas middle men exploit farmers who cannot get markets for their produce,   most of the   youth engaged in agribusiness have been leveraging various social media platforms  to reach buyers.  By creatively posting their produce on Whatzup and Facebook for instance, they have been able to sell their produce without going through the exploitative middlemen.  It is all about making this business trendy in line with the modern times where technology is in vogue.