Stories from the Youth for climate resilient agriculture (YCRA) programme 4/8
In 2022, FAO and IAAS, in collaboration with YPARD, launched the Youth for Green and Climate-Resilient Agriculture (YCRA) Programme to support youth in their efforts to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change in agriculture and the food system. Through a competitive application process, 8 youth-led projects working for greener and more resilient agrifood systems were selected. Throughout the year, the teams received capacity-building and mentoring to help them take their projects to the next level.
As the programme comes to an end, this series of articles will reflect on the progress and achievements of the 8 youth-led projects. This fourth article brings us to Costa Rica to meet Brian Maingi Musau, an oatmeal producer, whose university project turned into a company.
Adding value and preventing food losses locally
The value of improving local food chains was shown again after the effects by COVID-19. In this light, Brian Maingi Musua, a Kenyan student at EARTH University in Costa Rica, started working on a university project to face difficulties around food security, lack of value of agricultural produces, and long value chains to have a positive impact on his student community.
Brian and his university team came up with the Great Wave Project: Gran Ola. Great Wave sources oats and fruits form local small-scale producers and transforms them in nutritious oatmeal in the form of cereal and bars. Their products incorporate different flavors extracted from dehydrated fruits such as pawpaw, banana, and pineapple. It also uses different organic species like cinnamon and ground coconut to improve the texture of the oats.
Working directly with local small-scale farmers, the project aims at providing them with a higher value for their products and helps reducing losses by purchasing and drying fruits that would otherwise go rotten. The university project was quickly embraced, and in a few months’ time, over a 1 000 students were eating oatmeal from Brian and his team every morning at the university cafeteria. Brian got selected for the YCRA Programme in February, which got the ball further rolling for Great Wave.
Setting out a new business requires new skills: YCRA to the rescue
Brian looks back on the YCRA Programme as “an ambitious program that I feel empowers young people in a tangible way”. Setting up a new business requires a new skill set. Brian was happy he could gain new competencies when his project was at a pivotal moment.
During the programme, Brian mainly worked on building his business communication, branding his products as well as scaling up his business. “I am managing all aspects related to the topics learned in the program well”, he said.
Aiming high: embracing international ambitions
In scaling up his business, the help of his mentor, Mr. Patrick Deegbe, was of much help. Mr. Patrick Deegbe, an alumnus of IAAS and entrepreneur connecting African and European markets, worked with Brian to explore opportunities of marketing the products on the international stage.
Brian currently put further improvements of the project on pause and is doing an internship for the large German supermarket chain, Edeka, in Hamburg. It is a new environment, but a good place to learn more about food systems and how to develop Gran Ola’s activities.
For more information:
- Get in touch with Brian Maingi: bmaingi@earth.ac.cr
- Visit the Webpage of the YCRA programme
- Watch the Webinar series: “Sprouting change: capacity-building for youth in green and climate-resilient agriculture”
- Read more about food loss and waste: The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction.
