School promotes Agri-tech technologies to empower youths

Nakuru

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

KNA by Esther Mwangi/Dennis Rasto

The move by the government to encourage the youth to engage in Agricultural activities seems to be bearing fruit as a school in Rongai area of Nakuru County embarks on promoting agri-tech and agri-business technologies to equip the students with modern farming techniques.

Rongai Agri-Tech Boys High School which is located 30 kilometres West of Nakuru Town, sits on seven acres, five of which are used for farming for local consumption and also for learning purposes.

According to the school’s Director Brother Paul Anderson, the students wake up at 4.30am for preps until 6am where they take their breakfast before proceeding to pens to feed cows, pigs, rabbits, poultry, sheep and goats.

The Director said the Form One students are often tasked with taking care of animals with each either assigned a pigsty, a fish pond or cattle shed or goat and sheep pens.

At this stage, he added, the students learn the amount of hay a cow is supposed to consume and also milk produced.

Bro. Anderson said the farming section is managed by eager Form Two learners who plant maize and vegetables, which they ensure they weed accordingly to reap maximum produce.

The same class is also said to be in charge of picking vegetables and chopping them, before handing over to the kitchen staff to cook.

Form Three learners on the other hand, are tasked with management, where they are posted to manage most duties and different sectors. They also manage the stores, a situation which according to the school, has helped students take stock of what they need. 

By working on the farm, the boys are said to earn rewards and unlike many schools, they get the privilege to eat meat twice a week, eggs on selected days and take tea every evening.

“Our students never miss a good cup of tea because we have milk from our dairy animals. Each section has a student manager who is tasked to report on production and even choose pigs or bulls we can eat once they attain required weight,” says Bro. Anderson.

Every week, the school saves at least Sh40,000 on meat expenses since the students consume beef, pork or mutton sourced from the school farm.

The school according to the Director, has tasked health inspectors to check on quality of meat before it is consumed to ensure learners eat what is suitable for their health.

The Catholic-affiliated institution with 402 students boasts of a model farm with 30 dairy cows, goats, dozens of chickens, hundreds of tilapia, more than 150 pigs, 120 rabbits, 20 sheep, turkeys and geese which besides being used as food, serves as learning tools for the students.

Bro. Anderson told KNA that the chicken in the farm lay on average 200 eggs daily, which are used to bake cakes for the learners in addition to the students enjoying a menu of eggs and chicken twice a week.

"We normally don't buy milk and eggs as we get them directly from our farm," the Director added.

He says they get about 60 litres of milk daily from the four dairy cows that are currently lactating in addition to vegetables from plantations of cabbages, spinach, bananas, potatoes, maize, beans, kales and African indigenous vegetables.

Brother Anderson also revealed that the school rears rabbits for biology lessons, adding that the farm which is as old as the 50-year institution has been transformed over the decades to serve twin purposes as an agribusiness school and to supply students, teachers and staff with most of their food needs.

For the past five decades, the Director from the De La Salle Christian Brothers (Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools) order, says that the farm has been run independently as a business enterprise returning an impressive profit every month.

Among the notable alumni of Rongai Agribusiness Secondary School whose motto is ‘Give us a boy we give you a man’ are Food Security Advisor- Office of the President Dr. Dominic Menjo, former Ndaragwa Member of Parliament Mr Waithaka Kioni and Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa Father Prof. Stephen Mbugua.

The Director said the agritech initiative in the school is great as it moulds an all-rounded individual where at the end of four years, a student leaves with an additional certificate on community service, where the school management recognises several sectors they worked in and their qualities in management.

Brother Anderson said students who do not meet the university entry requirement from the school have the option of venturing into agri- business because of the experience they get at school.

“The competency-based curriculum is way easy here because the students are involved in almost everything besides theory class work,” he observes.

Brother Anderson indicated that the commercialization of students’ farming activities had greatly boosted increased interest in farming for the teenage students besides the farm sustaining itself and generating income which is banked in an independent account.

He adds that the farm where learners see first-hand farming activities, acts as a catalyst to future farmers adding that it is at the facility where classroom concepts are actualized with the reality in the agribusiness sub sector.

“This farm is carefully designed to encourage Kenyan youth to take up agriculture as the sector holds enormous potential to create jobs and spur the country's economic transformation,” states Brother Anderson.

He adds that activities being carried out at the farm are deliberately moulded to encourage learners to in future to explore opportunities in areas such as agricultural technologies, on and off farm ventures, aggregation, transportation of produce and value addition among others.

“Agriculture in Kenya needs these young people, and it is not too early to start exposing our students to immense opportunities and benefits available in agriculture,” says the Director.

Over the recent years, agriculture has increasingly lost its allure among school going students. Large numbers of students, especially those in rural areas aspire to leave the village and head to the cities after school.

Statistics show the average age of a Kenyan farmer is 65 years, calling for the need to re-invigorate the youth to take up farming as a career.

Courtesy ; K. N. A