• The World Food Programme’s H2Grow project installed a hydroponic unit at her school for use in agriculture classes to introduce learners to climate-friendly farming and to provide nutritious food to students.
• In the face of rapid urbanisation and climate shocks, the need for sustainable solutions that address food security like hydroponics has never been more urgent.
Image: /WFP
When 16-year-old Mercy Mmboga joined high school in Kibera, she was set on becoming a doctor.
That was until she learnt a 'new technology' of growing vegetables and leafy greens without soil-hydroponics.
She had a new dream of becoming a farmer.
“I was amazed,” she said standing next to a row of spinach sprouting out of old yoghurt containers in a recycled drainpipe at Olympic Secondary School.
Mmboga had never seen this type of farming.
“They are planting crops without using soil? I had never seen this in my life. I was very impressed with this. When I grow up, I want to be a farmer.”
Hydroponics is a farming technique that allows plants to grow in a water-based nutrient solution, which uses up to 90 per cent less water and 75 per per cent less space while producing crops twice as quickly as traditional agriculture.
This technique is ideal for high-density urban environments like Kibera, where land and water are scarce and access to nutritious foods is limited.
According to a 2017 study, at least one in five children in Kibera suffered stunted growth – a child who is too short for his or her age as a result of chronic or recurrent malnutrition.
Although the technology sounds space-age, hydroponics enables students to cultivate nutritious food with low-tech systems that use materials that are readily available and affordable.
Mmboga’s passion for hydroponics was ignited after attending agricultural classes at her school.
Engaging youth in farming is vital for creating jobs, improving future food security and driving economic growth in Kenya because it is an ‘ageing sector'.
The World Food Programme’s H2Grow project installed a hydroponic unit at her school for use in agriculture classes to introduce learners to climate-friendly farming and to provide nutritious food to students.
In the face of rapid urbanisation and climate shocks, the need for sustainable solutions that address food security like hydroponics has never been more urgent.
The H2Grow project, which started in 2022, has been scaled up in both urban and semi-arid areas such as Wajir, Isiolo and Makueni.
“We know that good nutrition is essential for children’s learning and development. By integrating hydroponics into school meals, WFP is not only improving access to nutritious food but also providing students with valuable skills and knowledge about sustainable agriculture,” said Brian Wanene, WFP’s portfolio innovation manager.
“We are helping to build a generation of climate-smart farmers who can contribute to a more food-secure future.”
The fresh vegetables like spinach, kale and tomatoes grown at Mmboga’s school, one of 15 across Kenya supported by WFP, are harvested twice a week and served to the school’s 1,200 students for lunch.
This means Mmboga and her peers can eat fresh vegetables regularly, something uncommon in her neighbourhood, and in a country where one in four don’t regularly consume dark leafy vegetables.
The success of the project has inspired Mmboga to build her hydroponics system, made from recycled plastic drainpipes and scrap metal, in a narrow courtyard at her friend Omar’s house.
She grows kales and spinach, providing her family with nutritious food and enough surpluses to sell for around Sh300 per week.
“We use a small piece of land, so it is very economical,” Mmboga said.
She has been selling some of her produce to her neighbours.
For Mmboga, this means she gets to regularly eat her favourite food – spinach – and is determined to transform access to nutritious food in her community and create employment.
“In slum areas, we are suffering with food shortages,” she said.
“So once I become a farmer, I’ll get to teach other people about hydroponics. I will employ many people.”
Most farmers in Kenya engaged in agricultural activities are between the ages of 50 and 65 years.
Most still practice traditional subsistence farming.
The Ministry of Agriculture says the sector has yet to fully exploit the potential of the youth and it remains largely unattractive.
The situation is exacerbated by the perception that agriculture is a last resort career, one of drudgery and low monetary benefits.
Agriculture remains the backbone of Kenya’s economy, directly contributing 30 per cent of the annual GDP and 27 per cent indirect contribution, according to the Economic Survey 2016.
Vision 2030 has identified agriculture as one of the key sectors to deliver the 10 per cent annual economic growth rate as well as the provision of job opportunities.
In Kenya, youth unemployment is higher than the overall national unemployment rate.
Data from the 2023 Economic Survey shows the formal sector constituted just 14 per cent of all jobs created in 2022. Of the 816,000 jobs created last year, only 113,000 were in the formal sector.
Indeed, 84 per cent of working-age Kenyans are in the informal sector, which consists of small and medium businesses in agriculture, light industry, hospitality, public transport, construction and domestic labour.