Young minds take flight

Date released

29 September 2026

A popular narrative goes that young people in Africa are rejecting agriculture as a career. However, many young Kenyans do not reject agriculture itself, but rather the version they have often seen. One that is unpredictable, labour-intensive, poorly connected to markets and, in some schools, associated with punishments like slashing grass, weeding, or working on the school farm.

On the other hand, modern, strategic, innovative, and profitable agriculture is an incredibly attractive prospect.

It’s what led Ms Victoria Nzilani to build a poultry house so large that villagers mistook it for a church.

And it has inspired Mr Benard Kikwao to build a Black Soldier Fly (BSF) unit with little outside support.

Community members gathered outdoors for a training and discussion session under trees. — Dr Leah Ndungu (standing), ACIAR’s Regional Manager to Africa, shares her reflections on testimonials from project members Mrima Self-Help Group.

Supporting young people with the right knowledge

With funding from ACIAR, Ms Nzilani, Mr Kikwao, and eight other young farmers travelled to the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) for a knowledge exchange visit focused on BSF production. There, they saw how BSF can convert organic waste into protein-rich feed, fertiliser and new income streams. They witnessed young graduates running agricultural enterprises and imagined agriculture in a whole new way.

The exchange built on the ACIAR-supported Strengthening Productivity through Research in Kwale (SPARK) project. SPARK trained 266 farmers and reached more than 1,000 others through peer learning, helping communities explore resilient livelihoods following the closure of mining operations in Kwale.

Building a bigger vision of agribusiness

Although not a direct SPARK beneficiary, Victoria’s father chaired one of the project’s farmer groups. Her interest in poultry began after a road accident left her with some compensation money. Rather than spend her money on immediate comforts or fashion items, she asked what could genuinely change her life.

And she chose chickens.

Seeing that households, traders and institutions travel considerable distances to obtain eggs, (with supplies sometimes coming from 552 kms away, when closer villages cannot meet demand), she saw a gap in the market for egg production. She also established that local competitors were quite small. So Victoria thought big.

She invested her compensation in a substantial effort to improve indigenous bird varieties. The structure was so imposing that villagers assumed a church sanctuary was being built. With all her money spent on the birds and infrastructure, feed soon became the pressure point for her new business. But through her visit to icipe, Victoria began to see BSF larvae – a protein-rich stock feed ingredient – as a solution. She was also inspired by seeing icipe graduates running insect-based enterprises.

‘I wanted a corporate job, but I now see agribusiness as a viable option too,’ she said.

Victoria is enthusiastic about integrating BSF into her business, but disciplined. Her birds must start laying and generating income before she launches another enterprise.

But the market has already responded. Even before the birds begin laying, her first season of eggs is effectively booked by a nearby trader who is ready to purchase her eggs.

She then plans to establish a BSF unit, reduce feed costs, explore feed formulations, sell frass and expand into broilers.

person feeding baby chickens in a small farming shelter

Ms Victoria Nzilani preparing feed for her 300 birds.

Person examining a young chicken with a poultry farmer inside a chicken house.

Ms Victoria Nzilani taking ACIAR Africa Regional Manager, Dr Leah Ndungu through her chicken-rearing journey and her aspirations for the future.

Invention and innovation are just the beginning

Benard, chair of the Upendo Mweo Youth Group, received chicks through the SPARK project.

After seeing farmers lose chicks to cold, disease and expensive heating, he developed fireless brooders for his birds from locally available materials. These are long-lasting and reduce reliance on electricity and charcoal. Through repeated improvements, Benard and his group have advanced the design across nine iterations. After selling more than 250 units so far, they are working on a 10th design that is customised for people with disabilities.

Before the icipe visit, he was already experimenting with insect feeds without understanding the science or the difference between ordinary maggots and BSF larvae. But the training introduced him to a structured production system.

Bernard threw himself into establishing a BSF enterprise. Without significant capital to start, he used knowledge, local materials, curiosity and an eye for gaps. He ordered shade netting through contacts made during the visit, built a BSF structure and followed the training steps to begin production. When recommended plastic jerrycans proved costly, he made wooden troughs lined with polythene. By observing how the larvae moved through the waste, he adapted the troughs to simplify separation, reducing costs and labour.

Like Victoria, Benard is intentional about creating demand. In a community where insects as animal feed are still unfamiliar, he is building a market. Whenever he delivers a brooder, he brings wet larvae and feeds them to the client’s chicks. Farmers see how eagerly the birds eat them before he explains their nutritional value and production process.

Within two months, Benard has completed several BSF cycles, sold two 15-kilogram batches of wet larvae, trained one client in BSF rearing and secured a booking to build another production unit.

Benard already sees opportunities in waste collection, frass fertiliser, poultry, pigs and supplying beach hotels that currently source chicken and pork from outside Kwale.

Facilitator demonstrating poultry equipment inside a small livestock shelter.

Mr Benard Kikwao showcasing the fireless brooders and the locally available materials used to assemble the brooder house.

Person sorting organic material and insect larvae in a large basin inside a mud-brick structure.

Ms Caroline Mlongo Hassan (Benard's wife) sorting the organic waste for the BSF to feed on and convert into frass.

Ms Hassan showcasing the BSF eggs on the wooden pallets used by the adult BSF to lay and hide their eggs.

Person feeding chicks inside a simple poultry shelter, holding feed beside a water container.

Ms Hassan feeding live BSF to her chicks, a great source of protein.

Person holding a container of insect larvae used for animal feed beside a rearing enclosure.

Ms Hassan showcasing the BSF pupae which when placed in the love cage will morph into adults, thus completing the life cycle of the fly.

Person standing beside an insect-rearing enclosure covered with mesh fabric

Netting used for the love cage where the BSF pupae morph into adults. The same cage also serves as a breeding ground for the flies to lay eggs and once these hatches into the first insta they are transferred to the first feeding process.

Rewriting agriculture for the next generation

Victoria and Benard represent two valid and vibrant examples of youth-led agribusiness.

One is investing at scale, protecting that investment and then diversifying. The other is beginning with fewer resources but rapidly testing, adapting and creating demand.

Their stories challenge a narrow definition of professional success, showing that ‘business’ need not look like hands typing on a laptop at an office desk. It can also be the mindset of someone who researches a market, redesigns a brooder, calculates feed costs, turns waste into value and creates work for others.

Learn more about ACIAR’s Agribusiness Program here.