Progress with Custom Haymaking As a Business for Destitute Youth in Kenya.

High youth unemployment has been identified as an impending threat to stability around the world, but particularly in Africa due to extremely high poverty rates. According to the World Bank, 60% of African youth (15-24 years of age) are unemployed. Unemployment/underemployment is especially acute in rural areas, driving youth to the cities where they may end up on the streets or in slums. In 2009 we identified haymaking as an opportunity to make a decent income in rural areas. Demand for hay is high due to the growing dairy sector in Kenya (and other countries in East Africa). Dairies are concentrated around cities and towns where land, and therefore fodder, is scarce. Forage can be produced in rural areas, cut, dried, packaged in dense bales, and transported to the dairies. We introduced scythes and a horizontal manual haybaler in 2011, which have been used by youth who perform custom haybaling services for farmers in the Mt Kenya area. Analysis of the business showed mowing speed and transportability of the baler to be a constraint for greater profit. Therefore we evaluated imported motorized walk-behind sickle-bar mowers and a vertical haybaler that can be more easily transported. Youth in Mt. Kenya area as well as in the Rift Valley have been evaluating this equipment. Preliminary results show that daily income can increase from $5 to $10 with the new equipment.