TREYL is an ambitious five-year programme, demonstrating that regenerative agriculture can create viable businesses opportunities for young people and thriving local economies.
The Transforming Rural Economies and Youth Livelihoods programme (TREYL) focuses on the needs of young people in rural communities.
Smallholder farmers across Kenya face many challenges. Farmers often struggle to access fertile land to grow their crops and don’t have the money to invest in seeds and equipment. Conventional farming methods, coupled with the impact of climate change, lead to poor yields and harvests that are too small to feed a family and return an income.
Increasingly, young people in Kisumu and Homa Bay view agriculture as an unattractive career option. Many of them choose to leave their rural homes to try and find alternative employment in cities.
Improving the viability of agriculture as a career can address high levels of unemployment in rural areas, keep families together, provide communities with more nutritious food, and boost the local economy. Through regenerative agriculture, a new generation of farmers has the opportunity to write a different story for themselves and their local community.
2019 – 2024
Kenya
Food systems
Title: Transforming Rural Economies and Youth Livelihoods (TREYL)
Dates: 2019 – 2024
Location: Kisumu and Homa Bay, Kenya
Participants: We aim to break the cycle of low productivity and poverty levels, targeting 6,000 young people (aged 25-35) in two counties in Kenya, helping them increase their income through agri-businesses.
Project Budget: 5.7 million GBP
Theme: Food systems
Lead Donor: IKEA Foundation
youth unemployment rate in Kenya
of unemployed youth could be absorbed by agroecology
Practical Action works with governments, communities, development agencies and private companies to promote sustainable, climate-resilient, inclusive smallholder agriculture.
The TREYL programme, in partnership with the IKEA Foundation, is building a business case to demonstrate that regenerative agriculture can be commercially successful. We are working with an initial cohort of 6,000 young women and men, enhancing their business skills based on an agro-ecological approach to farming.
We are developing multi-stakeholder platforms to improve the poultry, groundnut and tomato value chains. Working groups, made up of commercial providers and government agencies, are tackling access to finance, training services and the provision of market information.
We’re committed to transforming sustainable agriculture into a viable career that enables young people in rural areas to afford a better life. Through this partnership, we want to pioneer alternative approaches that can be applied in other communities and other developing countries.
Annelies Withofs, Programme Manager at The IKEA Foundation
The programme has mobilised businesses, government and civil society. Collaboration between different market actors has led to new solutions and addressed constraints around access to finance, market information and training. The programme has also supported the development of a number of new enterprises that support regenerative agriculture and provide opportunities for young people.
This project contributes to progress against four of the 17 SDGs.
Goal 5: Gender Equality
TREYL encourages women to get involved with the traditionally male-dominated field of agroecology and thrive through new business skills – making it a viable career option for a new generation.
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
With so many leaving to urban areas to find work, TREYL instead focuses on local, rural economic work, bolstering the local economy and encouraging environmentally-friendly livelihoods.
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
TREYL functions through a circular farming system, responsibly caring for the environment and giving back to the local economy.
Goal 15: Life on Land
As part of the training for young farmers, TREYL teaches new approaches to regenerative agriculture to help care for the land.
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