Digital Literacy Key in Youth’s Job Creation

Every July 15 marks the World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) which celebrates the importance of young people to be equipped with skills for entrepreneurship, employment and decent work.

 In the current era, digital skills are important especially for young people. This is especially because global cultures are dynamic and digitalisation comes with opportunities as well as challenges, yet, its needs are growing day by day. 

Tech evolution has been characterised by increased digitalisation of various processes and modes of operating. Some of which include payments and cash transfers which were significantly disrupted by mobile money services.

Additionally, adapted online practices brought about by effects of the Covid-19 pandemic as was the case with learning, working and lifestyle.

Digitalisation helps accelerate transformation and progress in agriculture. This is by providing solutions that can increase productivity and efficiency, enhance market linkages, increase access to affordable digital financing for agribusinesses, and improve farming and agribusiness models that are climate smart and environmentally friendly. 

These innovations have the potential to incentivise the youth into agribusiness by unlocking new opportunities for sustainable income generating businesses in agriculture.

It is estimated that around one million youth come into the job market in Kenya every year. With such bulging numbers, and with more youth unemployed, digitalisation, more so in agriculture can help mitigate unemployment particularly in rural areas where majority of the youth reside. 

Youth can leverage social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp to reach their customers, gain access to knowledge and also expand their markets for their products and services beyond the location of their business.

E-commerce platforms for agro-processed inventory and agricultural products that have undergone value addition are linking ‘agripreneurs’ to better and safer online payment methods and logistical support for their orders.

Similarly, online government services such as business registration services can help youth in agribusiness formalise their ventures, thereby positioning themselves for funding and business supply contracts.

Digital agriculture solutions provide methods for climate smart farming using digital techniques to monitor and optimise agricultural production processes which has the potential to revolutionise the global food chain.