Charlene Ruto, daughter of Kenyan President William Ruto, has recently announced that she co-owns a two-acre farm in Muranga County with the county’s Deputy Governor Stephen Munania.
The farm, which features a coffee plantation and trees planted in line with government initiatives to address climate change, is aimed at serving as a demonstration project for coffee farmers in the area while also encouraging youth engagement in agriculture, specifically in coffee farming.
According to Charlene, the project aims to equip the youth with different innovations within the coffee value chain, with the goal of improving their livelihoods. The initiative seeks to work with various coffee agencies to educate the community on value addition to the crop and to establish youth-led farms at the factory level, where each coffee factory in Murang’a has access to a few acres of land.
Furthermore, Charlene and Munania have development partners who have agreed to support the youths in leasing lands for coffee farming. This will provide the youth with employment opportunities as they develop their farming skills and grow their coffee farms.
The partnership between the two and various coffee agencies is also set to benefit other farms in the region.
“I spent the weekend in Murang’a County visiting the 2-acre demonstration coffee farm I have with Deputy Governor Stephen Munania.
“We planted a tree to mark the beginning of this partnership as we continue combating climate change. We want the youth to develop different innovations within the coffee value chain,” she wrote on her twitter page.
In another statement, Charlene also revealed that the project is more than just a coffee farm, as it is also aimed at addressing climate change through the planting of trees.
She added that the team aims to plant more trees once the long rains begin in March, and the tree-planting project marks the beginning of their partnership.
“The program we have crafted is looking at first establishing youth-led farms at the factory level. Each coffee factory in Murang’a has access to a few acres of land and by using that land with the three youth in the factory, it will serve as employment,” she stated.
In addition, Charlene and Munania visited Mariira Farm in Kigumo, where they have another acre of land that is set aside for farmers to use in deepening their coffee farming skills. The duo plans to add more farms to the existing two-acre farm in the future.
