NAIROBI, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Holding a smartphone in his left hand, Antony Ngunjiri taps on the gadget's screen with his right index finger.
One may think that the 28-year-old is whiling away time on the gadget as many other Kenyan youths do.
Ngunjiri is, however, engaging a farmer on his social media account which he uses to disseminate agro-information, get clients and market farm produce for farmers at a fee.
The holder of an undergraduate degree in agricultural production is among a growing number of young people in the East African nation, who have turned to online agribusinesses to reap from farming.
The youths, who have no access to capital or land, have found respite in online agribusiness.
"With internet technology, you don't need to dirty your hands for you to earn from the soil. You can fill information and marketing gaps as long as you have the knowledge and skills," said Ngunjiri on Thursday.
Apart from engaging farmers on social media, the youth are further running agricultural blogs where farmers can also sell produce. A number of them have commercialized the sites, in turn, making money.
Joseph Macharia, who runs Mkulima Young, a social enterprise farmers' site, said there are great opportunities in online agribusiness for young people who don't want to soil their hands on the farms.
"There are entrepreneurial online opportunities across the agriculture value chain. All one needs to do is identify what they want to do and treat agriculture as a serious business," he said.
Macharia's website offers farmers across Africa a marketing platform as well as disseminates information.
"Running an online platform for farmers requires passion for farming, a willingness to self-fund its development and an understanding of how social media work," said Macharia, who has been running the site for the past five years, and added it takes some time for one to start making money.
Brian Mwangi, a web developer in Nairobi, said the number of those seeking to start blogs is on the rise, with agriculture, sports, food and travel being among the leading categories.
"Currently, I am making an agricultural blog for two young farmers. This is the third I am working on in four months," said Mwangi, who charges 7,000 shillings (about 70 U.S. dollars) for the job.
He noted most of the websites he makes feature marketing and information sections.
It costs between 10 dollars and 20 dollars to host a website per year, charges that are affordable to many youths.
Internet costs have also declined considerably in the east African nation, enabling many people to stay longer online and for those running farmers' sites, uploading content online is done without feeling the pinch.
Bernard Mwaso of Edell IT Solution said that it has become easier to monetize online sites because of increased internet usage in Kenya.
"But what makes one site stand out over another is the content. Content is what pulls readers and once the clicks grow, one can start getting adverts and making money," he said.
Mwaso pointed out that vlogging is another area where some Kenyan youth interested in agribusiness are exploring.
"While a majority are making websites, vlogging which involves making short educative video clips remains untapped. Farming is an area where how-to videos are very popular and one can make money out of it," he said.
