Rates society

20/02/2017

Program Pitch;
There is developed a sustainable agriculture policy in small scale tea industry which among other things seeks to promote production per bush and diversification to other industrial and subsistence farming. This is a noble idea meant to benefit over half a million registered farmers. Training is done through farmer’s field school program where practically a tea factory makes a school and a tea collection center makes a class.
Farmers meet regularly to learn from each other as well as from invited facilitators offering pre-agreed topics. The best thing is that the program has been received well by farmers. This means that almost every farmer is aware of the program although they don’t subscribe to it all of them. To make programs such as this truly bear fruits all deliberations in these classes must reach those who are practically involved in the major farm practices for example; plucking, pruning, and crop nutrition. This does not always happen because most of registered farmers are aged and they depend on unregulated hired labor. Most of young registered or likely heirs to these farms are away in major towns or are engaged in other economic activities. Needless to say attending to tea bushes is a difficult job and it’s no one’s desire to do it for long. This confirms that there will always be new entrants in the labor force season after season mostly from non-locals. All these coupled with slow succession of tea farms to younger generation, management discouraging further subdivision of tea plots demand urgent efforts to integrate the hired laborer into the mainstream tea sub-sector. It also presents a promising opportunity for financial services providers as all laborers receive their wages informally.

14/02/2017

29/01/2017

Whether to meet the very basic of human needs or maintain acquired lifestyles and prestigious positions, we instinctively or by design find ourselves engaged in a range of practices and philosophies. This is mostly to improve, sustain and readily mitigate on threats to our ways of life. By virtue of impact caused by our past and current ingenious activities there are formal systems that offer only limited opportunities. A more sure avenue to reach these opportunities is formal training and experience. At this rate a majority has reached different levels in the formal training spectrum where the higher they go the much they feel entitled to be in formal employment.
In fact, their folks in rural and informal economy regard them to be of a higher caste and expect favors from them. This in turn keeps most of them away from their home districts ,to shelter from undue pressure. They become so detached from rural way of seeing things and if successful, their lifetime development in their rural home is unoccupied modern house.
It can get worse because even if things get tough it’s abominable for a college graduate to return upcountry jobless and broke. A measure of a successful household upcountry is by how many daughters and Sons it has sent to town. All these add to the digital hustling population waiting for the economy to generate new jobs.
The said economy and this generation's education has been supported by agriculture. Ironically no parent would like their form four graduate children, for example, become tea farmers. Those with means hire laborers from other districts. Those who don’t have the means work in the fields until they are bedridden. With introduction of free secondary education more than 80% of these laborers are literate. Labor in small scale industrial crops and current market forces favor the laborers. This presents a hustling population with unmatched potential. However, disorderly manner in which they are contracted in these farms completely condemns them into a ‘ from hand to mouth' situation leading the country into over reliance on traditional farming methods. This works against diversification and improvement of inputs in agro processing policy. It is also a threat to sustainability of our parents sources of livelihoods as this labor is not recognized in the mainstream agriculture sector.
As much as a lot is being done to hone skills for an industrialized Kenya, absence of a plan to solidify the base on which this will be premised is self defeating. This must be initiated by those who need dignified jobs the most; the hustling population. We will define and organize ourselves as opposed to being bombarded with anecdotes from rags to riches authors. Platitudes and endearing postures from decision makers must be a thing of the past. We are setting up a simple social mobility project.
Our desire is to create a for profit social enterprise where owners and heirs to farmlands whether residents in the village or otherwise will engage a reliable and trainable labor force to maintain quality inputs for agro processing.

25/11/2016

Some time back in 2012 President Kibaki while opening the upgraded Kisumu international airport asked the residents what they will be selling. Yes, what was the purpose of the multi million project. That was a rhetoric question in his off cuff speech but it has a good lesson.
If we really need tangible development as a young generation what are we ready to offer. Individually we are endowed differently but in general terms we are strong in labor provision and with entrepreneurial skills we can define ourselves based on our competencies to engage all other enabling factors.
Age should not limit the membership of our movement. I plead with you that we be architects of a universal entity with perpetual succession.
Ministry responsible for enterprise development has categorized ventures in four broad sectors ;Agribusiness, manufacturing, trade and services.What will we be specializing in. If we are honest we must form a trading entity because advocacy groups won’t remain non partisan for long.
….a simple SWOT analysis will show that agribusiness will require land which os owned by seniors in the society, manufacturing is capital intensive while trade is over regulated. When we look carefully at services sector we find that youth and women are chief labor resource providers. This is not an elimination exercise but looking for a suitable starting point.
Ours is a rural country and the idea here is to modify traditional sources of income to create more dignified jobs. Forming and splitting of advocacy groups will only add to our woes because we will never be taken seriously. Let’s face it; we have numbers but we won’t remain young forever. Land fragmentation population increase and labor mobility has seen young people move away from their home districts. Succession of family land/property to young generation will remain a mirage to some. A new gap being created between educated and 8.4.4s system failures. Simply put, we need to look for a sustainable common bond….that’s what we are trying to do at https://m.facebook.com/ratesociety/
For example in murang’a county from Kiru In Mathioya to Ngere in Gatanga along the foothills of aberdare ranges there are not less than eighty thousand small scale tea farms. This translates to not less than a hundred thousand tea pickers who 60% receive their wages by hand. Meaning there is no prove of their economic activity hence they can’t access banking and insurance services.
Most of the tea pickers come from other parts of the country. Most of young from these areas have bad attitude towards farm practices. Sometimes it is pressure from their parents that drives them away. There is developed a sustainable agriculture policy that seeks to promote diversification and improve production. To successfully implement such policies the following needs to be done.
• Reduction of geographical labor mobility.
• Integration of labor providers in the mainstream industry.
• Introduction of a social mobility project to guide in professional labor mobility.
The management structure will borrow heavily from nyumbakumi initiative and Kenya Tea Development Agency. We are recruiting project assistants who will form the founding non executive committee. One Position available for each area represented by an assistant county commissioner.
If interested send one paragraph email to ratesociety@gmail.com telling a little about yourself and the division you are applying in.
N.B one must be a current resident of the said division. Program endorsed by rosumba@youthfund.co.ke .

Huduma saccos originated from Kenya National Youth service rebranding plan promoting saving of 30% o