Kenya can turn farm technology into a youth jobs revolution

Kenya’s tea fields are becoming an unlikely testing ground for the future of agriculture, where drones, data, and precision farming could reshape how the country produces food and creates jobs. A new DJI Agriculture case study shows how drones can make tea production faster, more precise, and less dependent on labour-intensive application methods. For Kenya, the significance goes beyond tea: the same agricultural technology in Kenya could be adapted to maize, vegetables, horticulture, coffee, and other crops that feed a growing population. The bigger opportunity is to turn farming from a predominantly manual livelihood into a technology-enabled business capable of attracting a new generation of skilled young entrepreneurs.

Agricultural technology in Kenya is changing what tea farming can achieve

Kenya’s tea industry already demonstrates why precision agriculture matters. The Tea Board of Kenya says the country produced 598.47 million kilograms of made tea in 2024, up 4.95% from 2023, before 2025 weather pressures affected production. Yet climate variability remains a major threat. In February 2025, tea production fell 13.49% year on year as hot and dry conditions affected plantations, with smallholders recording particularly sharp declines.

DJI’s tea-farming model points towards one response. Its Agras drones can distribute fertilizer with programmable application rates and flight speeds, while reducing the need for workers to physically handle agricultural chemicals. DJI says seven Agras T50 drones could cover a 912-hectare plantation in 21 days, compared with 45 days for 50 workers using conventional methods.

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The technology becomes even more valuable when drones are paired with sensors and farm data. Instead of treating an entire field uniformly, farmers can identify weak areas, monitor crop health and target interventions where they are needed. That approach can reduce input wastage while helping farmers respond faster to changing field conditions. DJI also notes that its drones can operate when fields remain muddy after rainfall, potentially allowing time-sensitive farm operations to continue.

For Kenya, the strategic opportunity is to take that model beyond tea. Agriculture contributes roughly a quarter of the economy, while about 72% of the population derives livelihoods directly or indirectly from the sector, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Improving productivity therefore has implications not only for farmers but also for food prices, rural incomes, manufacturing and national economic resilience.

Agricultural technology in Kenya could make farming attractive to a new generation

The most important transformation may ultimately be human rather than technological. A drone does not eliminate agricultural jobs; it changes the skills required to perform them. Young Kenyans could build businesses around drone operation, farm mapping, crop monitoring, data analysis, precision application, equipment maintenance, and digital farm management.

That model fits Kenya’s wider employment challenge. The World Bank has demonstrated that combining skills, entrepreneurship support, and access to markets can substantially improve youth employment, with one Kenyan programme creating 155,000 jobs and raising beneficiaries’ earnings by 50%. Agriculture could apply the same principle through technology-enabled enterprises rather than relying exclusively on traditional farm labour.

The opportunity is particularly compelling if technology is deployed through cooperatives, farmer groups, and youth-owned service companies. A young entrepreneur would not necessarily need to own thousands of acres. They could own or lease equipment and provide precision-farming services to hundreds of smallholders, creating a scalable business around the machinery.

This is where Kenya’s tea experience could become a blueprint for food security. The country can use high-value export agriculture as a training ground for technologies that are subsequently deployed across food crops. Drone mapping, precision fertilizer application, early crop-stress detection, and digital farm records could help farmers produce more from existing land while using water, fertilizer, and labour more efficiently.

The goal should therefore not be to replace farmers with machines. It should be to give farmers better machines, better information, and better business models. With agriculture already central to Kenya’s economy and livelihoods, agricultural technology in Kenya could become one of the bridges between food security, climate resilience, and youth employment.