Muranga has trained and funded 60 agripreneurs, with capital of Sh150,000 to start their own agribusinesses providing new extension services that have reached over 12.000 additional farmers a year.
The agripreneurs who hold degrees and diplomas in agriculture have set up dairy, chicken, and fodder production farms, nurseries, and agrovets in the county that are being used as free training hubs for farmers.
Despite agriculture contributing 60 per cent of Murang’a’s income the county has an extension officer-to-farmer ratio of one to 6,000, a whopping 14 times higher than the FAO-recommended 1:400 ratio. This severely limits the quality and amount of theoretical and practical expert agricultural advice farmers get. A study conducted to determine the impact of agricultural extension services found that maize farmers with access to agricultural extension services had 16.4 per cent more yields than those without.
The agripreneurs have not only spread the agriculture extension gospel to 24,142 farmers over their tablets and phones but also on the ground working with the county’s 22 Ward Agriculture officers. They have additionally aided in the construction of 200 water pans to harvest water for farmers in the county and collected data on what crops farmers grow each season. This a been used in integrating extension service with nutrition which has helped develop dietary guidelines for Muranga County.
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The programme, which was run by the Kenya Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (KeFAAS) and sponsored by the County government of Murang’a, the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS), and AIRTEA, trained the agripreneurs for one and a half years before they graduated were issued certificates and received the Sh150,000 seed money to set up their own agribusinesses.
“The agripreneurs were trained to help deliver extension services to Murang’a farmers. This was done online through tablets fitted with extension learning kits issued to them or on voice calls with the free airtime they got from the programme. They also developed working relationships with the ward and sub-county agriculture officers to help with on-the-ground agri-extension work,” said Peter Gitiki, Chief Executive Officer KeFAAS.
The young agriculturalists were also trained on how to register and run businesses which was crucial in helping them utilise the seed money they got.
The programme which ran in Murang’a between 2020 and 2022 is the blueprint for Kenya’s World Bank-funded Digitally Enabled Agripreneur Model which will be implemented this year in 33 counties.
The Sh150,000 the Murang’a agripreneurs received went into setting up small agribusinesses such as agrovets, tree nurseries, small dairy farms, and fodder production units as well as chicken farms.
“Because all of our agripreneurs are agriculture graduates, we only add to their existing knowledge base to make their farms, nurseries, agrovets the best in class,” Peter pointed out.
These agripreneur farms serve as free training hubs for farmers.
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Therefore, their poultry farms for example are not just your ordinary chicken farms you’ll find in the village but rather ones that use Azolla and Black soldier flies to cut down on the cost of chicken feed. The dairy farms for their part also incorporate production units that train farmers on how to grow animal fodder.
For nurseries and agrovets, which receive county support and prioritisation, they are expected to not only sell seedlings or pesticides to farmers but also give after-sale services. This includes providing information on the best pesticide to use, integrated pest management options, affordable financing, and market prices and connections.