The purpose of this research was to explore the agripreneurship opportunities for the youth in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study was motivated by the Kenya government’s push to have the youth who are more than 60% of Kenya population to be involved in meaningful economic agricultural activities. The study was situated in Kiambu County which has a very high rate of youth unemployment, and it is meant to explore opportunities for youth to engage in viable economic agricultural activities and which in this study will be referred to as Agripreneurship. The concept of agripreneurship has the potential to bring about agricultural innovation and sustainable economic growth in the county. In the context of Kiambu County, which functions as one of the most agriculturally productive regions in Kenya, this study aimed at illustrating the importance of youth engagement in agriculture and agripreneurship to illustrate how the youth in Kenya can influence economic growth, enable food security, and promote sustainable farming practices. The research employed a desktop review, a qualitative approach, to explore recent studies on agripreneurship opportunities available to Kenyan youth in the agricultural sector. As per the research findings, there are several instances of successful agripreneurs in Kiambu County who have transformed and impacted the overall agricultural industry. The findings also showed that some of the agripreneurship opportunities that could be explored by the youth in the county include, technology-driven innovations, sustainable farming practices, and agribusiness ventures. The research managed to illustrate that agripreneurship in not only empowering to the youth but also in enhancing the overall agricultural productivity of Kiambu County. Nonetheless, further research is necessary in examining how the youth could make use of technology to create agripreneurship opportunities in the county.

Agripreneurship, Agripreneurs, Agribusiness, Unemployment, Innovation

environmental engineering

Presentation: oral presentation