4-K stands for Kuungana, Kufanya, Kusaidia Kenya which is loosely translated as coming together, to act, in order to help Kenya.
By Ivy Maloy
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday officially launched the introduction of the 4-K Clubs in primary schools at the ASK Showground in Jamuhuri Park, Nairobi. This comes after The Cabinet approved of its revival in late February so as to usher in a new generation of tech-savvy young agricultural players who will revolutionize every aspect of agriculture in Kenya.
4-K stands for Kuungana, Kufanya, Kusaidia Kenya which is loosely translated as coming together, to act, in order to help Kenya. The clubs, which died in the early 1990s was relaunched as part of the grand government strategy to reposition agriculture as a key economic driver.
During the event at the ASK showground, the Head of State also launched the ENABLE Youth Kenya Program. ENABLE- Empowering Novel Agribusiness Led Employment. The main aim of the program is to build initiatives for youth in agribusiness which is co-funded by the Government and The African Development Bank.
Students from various schools had a chance to showcase some of their agricultural projects some of which really impressed the President. Pupils from St Scholastica Catholic School had a Solar Powered Automatic Weather Station which operates on its own, it does not need one to be there to monitor it, and sends data to The Kenya Space Agency after every 15 minutes.
Katheka Kai School from Machakos County had a mobile vegetable garden. The idea is to use locally available resources to create food availability and is convenient for people in urban areas especially those who have no space for a kitchen garden.
Ruthimitu Girls had various types of plants to showcase. The tree Spinach which they explained grows in deserts and is used to treat people with drugs and alcohol addiction. They also had Rue-plant. This is used to cure snake bites.
The 4K Clubs within schools will enable young innovators to come up with creative solutions that will boost Kenya’s food basket. The club will also help address barriers that have contributed to the low involvement of young people in the agriculture sector. It will also promote early interest by students in agricultural sector which will help improve livelihoods of Kenyans and address the negative perceptions toward Agribusiness among the youth.
One of President Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda is Food Security. The president aims to increase farmers’ income, reduce malnutrition, create agro-processing jobs and increase Agriculture sector contribution to the GDP. This will help to reduce the number of food insecure Kenyans and reduction in the cost of food in the country.
Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) Chief Executive, Ezekiel Mutua in his Twitter account says that Agriculture is the backbone of Kenya’s economy and film and T.V is needed to get the youth to develop keen interest in this sector.
“KFCB’s participation at the momentous 4K Clubs launch is anchored on our resolve to support initiatives that promote job and wealth creation for the youth in line with the Presidential Big Four Agenda,” says Mutua.
The rebranded 4-K club model has been designed on the platform of the learner oriented philosophy and compiles with the requirements of the Competence Based Curriculum.