By Gift Briton
Over the next three years, more than 100,000 smallholder farmers from across 22 counties in Kenya will have better access to agricultural inputs through an initiative projected to sprout the country’s food production.
Under its Africa fertiliser financing mechanism (AFFM) Special Fund, the African Development Bank (AfDB) in partnership with Apollo Agriculture Group, has launched a $2 million credit guarantee and $219,000 technical grant program. This will enable Kenyan smallholder farmers to have access to essential fertilisers for planting and top dressing, high-quality certified seeds, training on agronomy, financing, and insurance package that will be able to protect them against unfortunate events like drought and climate change. Farmers will get all these inputs on credit by paying a 10% deposit and the rest to be paid at harvest.
The project will be largely implemented across maize-growing counties in Kenya, including Baringo, Bungoma, Busia, Elgeyo-Marakwet, Kakamega, Kericho, Kisii, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nandi, Narok, Nyamira, Nyandarua, Siaya, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Vihiga and West Pokot.
“The goal is to expand the reach and use of fertilisers for smallholder farmers. It will help us unlock more access to the farmers whom we may not be able to reach because the guarantee will support us in taking care of some of the bad debts and expanding to riskier sectors,” said Benjamin Njenga, Managing Director at Apollo Agriculture during the launch event in Nairobi, Kenya.
“The target is smallholder farmers, mostly women, who farm at least an acre on average. We have developed a technology that will enable us to on-board farmers, make decisions on who will be eligible for financing and do the last-mile distribution where the farmers will be able to access the fertiliser from not more than three kilometres from where they live. We have also partnered with over 700 agro-dealers’ country-wide who can do the last mile distribution.”
In Kenya, despite agriculture being the dominant sector in the economy, employing nearly 8.5 million in 2020 alone, access to affordable and quality farm inputs remains elusive to most farmers.
More than 80% of agricultural production in Kenya is by smallholder produce. However, on several occasions, commercial credit products do not favour them, with a survey conducted by the Central Bank of Kenya in 2023 revealing that high cost of inputs and mechanisation, poor quality of inputs and limited knowledge of inputs as the main constraining factors to production and productivity among farmers.
“Through the initiative that we are going to witness today, the AFFM which is an initiative of the African Union through the AfDB will enable over 100, 000 farmers in Kenya to access agro-inputs, extension/advisory services and even pay their labour requirements. The farmers are expected to pay back the credit upon the sale of their produce hence maintaining the cycle and making the approach sustainable,” noted Dr Kiprono Rono, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development of Kenya during the launch event. He was represented at the event by Peter Ouko who read the speech on his behalf.
“It is my recommendation that this programme be extended to cover at least 37 counties which are major crop-producing counties with a view of reaching 2 million smallholder farmers.”
On behalf of the President of AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Nnenna Nwabufo noted: “The project’s implementation entails three main components; facilitation of smallholder farmer’s access to fertilisers, agro-inputs and agronomic advice, provide smallholder farmer’s access to financing and increase finance and technology literacy, and farmer database aggregation to gather unique market intelligence and data at smallholder farmers.”
Nwabufo, AfDB’s Director General for East Africa said that the lessons learnt from this project will inform future designs of the project emphasizing the use of technology to streamline operations and efficiently extend finance to targeted beneficiaries.
“We are committed to supporting this project aims to enhance private sector involvement in the agricultural sector, crowd in additional funding, and foster a self-sufficient and sustainable sector that contributes to the country’s economic growth,” she said.
