Contribution of TAGDev Program on Students Agri-entrepreneurial Development: A case of Egerton University

Agricultural transformation in developing countries such as Kenya depends on the level of youth involvement in the agricultural sector. The Kenyan government recognizes the potential of the youthful population in agricultural sector development through her Agriculture Sector Development strategy (2010-2020). Various efforts such as provision of affordable credit, capacity building by the government and other stakeholders have been made to attract the youth into agribusiness. However, despite these efforts, youth involvement in agriculture is still low. Moreover, higher education training in agriculture has mostly concentrated on increased production ignoring entrepreneurial skills development, which is a necessity in transitioning to commercialized agriculture by smallholders. To address this, Egerton University in partnership with the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is implementing a program funded by MasterCard Foundation named TAGDev program. The program seeks to transform African agriculture through students’ entrepreneurial development, community engagement and experiential learning. This paper therefore highlights the TAGDev program contributions on students’ agri-preneurship development. Through its various entrepreneurship trainings and field trips to model farms organized by the program, the 6 MSc. Agrienterprise students in groups of three have formed 2 business ventures namely Tamu Nuts enterprises and CMS Agroprises. In addition to that, one BSc. Agriculture student in partnership with his friends has started an agri-enterprise, Comrade Dairy and Foods Enterprises, dealing with the manufacture and sale of fresh milk and yogurt. The TAGDev students have also adopted kitchen garden farming in their hostels selling the extra produce to their fellow students, a technology they learnt at Amiran Kenyan Limited during a field trip. In conclusion, the program has so far made tangible contribution to the students’ entrepreneurial growth. There is need to extend program benefits to the non-TAGDev students to ensure wholesome contribution to Africa’s growth and development by the students’ community