By Kimuri Mwangi
A new group of students from the Kenya School of Agriculture (KSA) were officially flagged off to the United Kingdom under the Seasonal Workers Scheme (SWS), marking a significant step in Kenya’s drive to empower its youth through agricultural labour mobility.
The students will spend six months gaining hands-on experience on farms in England and Scotland. This international attachment comes through a partnership programme that has seen 392 KSA students deployed to UK farms since 2023.
The SWS initiative is part of the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which identifies agriculture as a key sector for job creation, food security, and inclusive economic growth.
“Agriculture is one of the sectors with a multiplier effect and potential to create and generate jobs in addition to providing food and nutrition security,” said Harun Khator, the Secretary of Administration at the State Department for Agriculture, during the flagging off ceremony.
The government has invested significantly in strengthening KSA’s institutional capacity, including its main campus and satellite centres, to ensure youth are trained through Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) aligned to market needs. Currently, KSA offers CBET courses in Horticultural Production that prepare trainees for both employment and the agribusiness sector.
“Today’s agriculture is changing and highly technology-driven,” added Khator. “The youths must therefore be trained and technologically empowered to competitively participate at all levels of the value chains.”
Apart from practical exposure, the students will earn an income during the six months, a dual benefit that reflects the programme’s value in both skills development and economic empowerment.
As they travel abroad, the students were encouraged to uphold professionalism and act as ambassadors of Kenya’s agricultural excellence.
