With Kenya’s rising rate of literacy levels, the process of securing a job has been described as a gruelling experience for university graduates and a possible cause of mental health problems.
Graduates with qualifications attained after a long struggle through the various stages of education are left to compete for the available few opportunities in the Kenyan job market.
For Roselyne Khabayi, a graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, however, the hope of securing a stable source of income should be shattered by the lack of a job after school.
The Chuka University graduate has now settled on dairy farming with the intention of exploiting the venture seen by many as a no-go zone for graduates.
Speaking to the Kenya News Agency, the graduate narrated how she ventured into dairy farming as her last resort following a period of over ten years of job-hunting.
Khabayi, 35, now runs a dairy farm earning her over Ksh1,000 in a day and a cumulative of Ksh36,000 in a month from her milk sales.
After her arduous and fruitless search for a job, the lady returned to her upcountry home in Vihiga County in pursuit of a fresh start.
“I went from office to office dropping my curriculum vitae (CV) hoping to get a response with good news but I only received regrets,” she recounted.
According to her, a Ksh200,000 loan was all she needed to set her venture in motion. She started with pregnant Friesian cows which were about to give birth in a few months' time.
The birth of her two calves ushered in a new era which meant she would have a consistent source of daily income and with lesser constraints as compared to her experience in the city.
Since then, Khabayi has managed her farm- ensuring that her cows are lactating and consistently producing milk for her sale. She supplies her milk to the population of her home county.
To ensure constant availability of pasture for her stock, she set aside a portion of her land to grow a special fodder that has guaranteed her constant supply.
Currently, Roselene Khabayi has a strategy where she sells her calves at the age of one year- while keeping the milk-producing cows.
