Technology and Innovation Driving Young Farmers’ Engagement in Agriculture-Akoko Comprehensive School
When you meet Felix Odhiambo at Akoko Comprehensive School, you quickly realize this is not just another student attending a club. He’s a young farmer in the making. His hands are small but firm when he lifts a tomato vine to show the tiny fruits sprouting under the leaves. “This is what we call patience,” he says. Felix is in Grade 7, but the work he’s doing with his 4K Club feels far beyond his years. What began as an after-school activity has grown into a life-changing journey for him, his family, and his community.
Felix Odhiambo Posses for a photo with her mother at their home farm in Siaya. Photo: Simiyu Nalianya-ADSW
The 4‑K Club programme was revived nationally in 2021 as part of efforts to tackle food insecurity and youth disengagement in agriculture. Across Kenya, there are now about 2,000 registered clubs with over 300,000 young members. Supporting schools like Akoko with 4‑K Club resources is essential, students learn to grow nutritious crops like managu, terere and kunde, those same foods can feed school meals while also improving community diets.
Felix, “Before the club, I thought farming was a form of punishment, but now I can learn about nutrition, make a small income and supplement some of my needs like getting books and a pen.” His mother, Caroline Awino, told us, “Felix is hardworking and dedicated. I never thought my son could farm” That family farm embodies a ripple effect: the knowledge Felix brings home is helping his household eat better and model sustainable practices. Their kitchen garden now supplies the household with fresh vegetables, and occasionally provides extra cash when tomatoes are sold.
Felix Odhiambo showcasing tomatoes in her small kitchen garden at home: . Photo: Simiyu Nalianya-ADSW
The SUSTFARM+ project’s support through ADSW field officer George, who visits regularly, ensures that students like Felix can refine their methods and adapt to local conditions. Every week, the students meet to review tools and techniques, vertical bag gardens that save space, sunken beds that conserve water, and conical gardens suited to small plots. All tailored to areas like Akoko facing irregular rainfall. These technologies aren’t futuristic; they are practical, low-cost, and scalable. Mrs.Caroline noted how Felix improvised vertical bags at home using simple materials available locally. The project’s emphasis on food‑and‑nutrition security education equips learners to value African traditional vegetables rich in iron, vitamin A and calcium nutrients often lacking in rural diets.
At the community level, the knowledge trickles out. Other households in Akoko have adopted Felix’s methods after seeing his success. The school’s small kitchen garden, managed by 4‑K Club members, supplies snacks or side‑dishes for students, and parents who join planting days often borrow ideas for their home plots. Agriculture begins to look less like hardship and more like opportunity, jobs, food, and knowledge. When schools act as incubators of farming innovation, they contribute to local economic resilience and raise the next generation of farmers, agripreneurs, and community educators.
Felix in his kitchen garden; . Photo: Simiyu Nalianya-ADSW
Felix wants to be a full-time farmer when he grows up. In his words: “I want to farm, to feed people, and to show others how farming can be cool and profitable.” Her mother hopes his path will inspire others, she says the project has changed their lives. “My son’s future is bright, not because he escapes farming, but because he owns it.” Supporting schools like Akoko with agriculture knowledge means transforming education into sustainable livelihoods. It creates ripple effects through communities, feeding school nutrition programs, boosting family incomes, and seeding a new generation of youth who view agriculture not as punishment, but as a creative, scientific, and scalable path toward food security and employment. That is why investing in school-based agricultural programmes and ensuring they are sustainable matters not just for students like Felix, but for the whole community.
