NAIROBI, Kenya – The Agriculture Cabinet Secretary nominee, Mutahi Kagwe, has pledged to revamp the agricultural sector and make it appealing to the Kenyan youths if the parliament approves him.
He said this during his vetting by the National Assembly Committee on Appointments at Parliament buildings in Nairobi.
Kagwe described the current farming as a ‘boring’ venture that needed to be modernized by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) and financial technology (fintech) in training modules to attract Kenyan youths.
“Agriculture has to be made cool for the youth to embrace it. It is too boring currently and needs to include technology and new ways of doing things. We will work with the education ministry to revamp how we train agriculture students,” he said.
Mutahi Kagwe: Agriculture for the youth must be made cool. It’s too ordinary and boring. Youth are not going to go there with the way it’s structured today.
He noted that many young people lack land for agriculture, thus, the government should lease the available idle land.
He also stated that the government should provide correct and quality seeds and ensure proper soil analysis to increase the productivity of farmers.
He concluded by assuring the committee that he will overhaul the ministry’s communication strategies to combat misinformation, which has always led to public uproar.
“I will use the same social media where a lot of disinformation has been taking place and work with the fourth estate to dissemination to Kenyans,” Kagwe said.
Mutahi Kagwe: In this day and age in a democracy, we must take in the positives and the negatives from media. I will use the same media to disseminate information to the farming community. It won’t be the first time they have assisted us to succeed. #K24Siasa
Kagwe holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce (insurance) from the University of Nairobi and an MBA from the United States International University.
He served as a member of parliament of Mukurwe-ini constituency from 2003-2007 and minister for Information Communication and Technology (ICT) from 2005-2007.
He was the first Nyeri County senator from 2013 to 2017.
Under former president Uhuru Kenyatta, he served as Health CS for two years.
If approved, Kagwe will succeed Andrew Karanja, who was nominated as Kenya’s ambassador to Brazil.
