Nairobi: As Kenya's political landscape heats up and urban influences stretch deeper into rural areas, older residents in Kiambu are raising the alarm over a troubling trend where the youth are abandoning agriculture for a cocktail of drug abuse, political protests, and idleness. Once buzzing with the laughter of youth and the rhythm of hoes hitting fertile soil, many farms in Kiambu now lie quiet, tilled only by the slow, tired hands of the elderly.
According to Kenya News Agency, elderly farmers across Kiambu speak of a generation that has drifted, not into jobs or education, but into drugs, idleness, and now adding 'maandamano' in the list. In places like Githunguri and Ruiru, once-teeming homesteads are eerily quiet. The elderly tend to their crops alone or with hired labor, while the youth either remain indoors or have migrated to towns.
Mary Wambui from Ruiru shared her experience, stating, 'I offered my son a section of land to farm vegetables and even helped him build a greenhouse. He abandoned it after two months and said farming is for villagers. Now, he's just hanging around, chewing miraa and waiting for the next protest.'
Steven Kamau of Lari, aged 78, expressed his concerns, saying, 'We have become strangers in our own land. When we were young, we were proud to work the land. Now these children say farming is slavery. They want fast money and quick thrills.'
Local community leaders have noted the rise in drug abuse, especially the use of bhang, alcohol, and miraa, has taken a toll on productivity. Grace Njambi, a church elder, remarked, 'We are not saying young people shouldn't fight for justice or have political opinions. But when maandamano becomes the only thing they show up for, and the farm stays unattended, we have a problem.'
The economic implications of this trend are significant. Peter Mwangi, a retired agricultural officer, lamented, 'We can't produce as much as we used to. The older we get, the less we can do. Food prices rise, and we depend on imports or supermarkets for what we used to grow here.'
In regions like Kikuyu and Ruiru, once green and thriving farmland is being sold off in parcels not for modern mechanized farming, but for housing estates and rentals. With no successors willing to take on the soil, families are giving up.
The rise in protests, or 'maandamano', has become another focal point of the elders' concern. While some acknowledge that youth have valid grievances about corruption, lack of jobs, and inequality, they question whether these protests offer any real solutions. Mwangi added, 'Instead of organizing cooperatives and farming groups like we used to do, they're organizing WhatsApp groups to block roads. They don't want to wait for maize to grow; they want quick change, quick money, and quick fame.'
Mwangi concluded with a stark warning, 'If we don't wake up as a community, soon there will be no one to till this land. We will even import cabbages while our sons and daughters march on the streets.'