Farmers in Homa Bay County are set to access affordable financing after the government disbursed more than Sh52 million in grants to strengthen farmer organisations, expand agricultural businesses and enhance lending capacities of Saccos.

The funds, disbursed under the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP), will support Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), savings and credit cooperative societies (Saccos) and other agricultural structures under NAVCDP.

NAVCDP County project coordinator Henry Nzinga said the funding included inclusion grants that would cater for essential operational costs within farmer organisations and Saccos.

“The grants will help finance office equipment, bookkeeping services, office rent and mobilisation of additional members,” he noted.

A separate matching grant will provide capital to Saccos to enable them to lend more money to their members.

According to the official, about Sh28.4 million was allocated as inclusion grants and Sh16.4 million in matching grants for Saccos. A further Sh8 million was allocated to Community Driven Development Committees (CDDCs) to support the establishment of agricultural demonstration sites.

The inclusion grants were to be shared between FPOs and Saccos, with the former receiving about Sh3.4 million and the latter, Sh23 million.

The project plans to establish 160 demonstration sites across the county, with four sites in each ward, covering the value chains supported by the programme.

The sites will provide farmers with practical learning opportunities across the agricultural value chains supported by NAVCDP.

Agripreneurs on the other hand received 40 digital agricultural resource kits worth Sh5.5 million. The kits comprised tablets, smart projectors, power banks and soil augers.

The tablets contain agricultural extension materials that agripreneurs will use to train farmers in their extension services responsibilities.

The programme supports five key value chains including rice, coffee, banana, dairy and cotton, with the aim of improving production, marketing and access to financial services.

The project is currently working with 5,722 farmer groups. It has also supported the establishment of 40 Saccos, with one Sacco serving each ward in the county.

Homa Bay County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture Joash Oloo said the funding was intended to provide farmers with the capital and institutional support needed to grow their enterprises.

He said the grants would serve as seed capital, with beneficiaries expected to use the resources to strengthen their organisations and, in the case of matching grants, provide loans to members through a revolving system.

The initiative is expected to particularly benefit young people and women by expanding opportunities for employment and income generation.

“Our dream is for our people to become job creators, not job seekers,” Oloo said.

Homa Bay Deputy Governor Dannish Onyango said strengthening farmers’ organisations would help increase agricultural productivity while creating “This is seed capital to help them improve production on their farms. It will boost productivity across all the value chains supported by the NAVCDP programme and create employment. They will become employers rather than job seekers, increasing production while improving their access to food and income,” he said.

The DG said partnerships involving the county government, financial institutions, universities and development organisations would be important in helping farmers expand their enterprises.

The event also saw Homa Bay signing a Memorandum of Understanding with World Resources Institute (WRI) Africa in efforts to curb food loss and wastage throughout the supply chain.

Onyango said improving agricultural productivity must go hand in hand with reducing post-harvest losses to ensure farmers derive maximum economic value from their produce.

by Sitna Omar