By George Munene
Over 4,000 small-holder farmers in Nakuru will receive low cost financing and subsidized farm inputs as well as access to processing companies and exports markets for avocados and macadamia after their county government inked a deal with American NGO One Acre Fund, and Apollo Agriculture–a Kenyan agricultural lender.
The project will target farmers that own between half an acre and three acres of land. Loans will be disbursed in the form of farm inputs that will include seeds, fertilizer and insurance.
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Globally, less than 20 per cent of smallholder farmers have any form of agricultural insurance, and across Sub-Saharan Africa, this figure is less than three per cent,’ Reads part of a 2020 GSMA research publication on Agricultural insurance for smallholder farmers.
While previously the scope of One Acre Fund’s funding has been focused on maize and beans farmers, Koome McCourt, the organisations Government Relations Team Lead, explained to Farmers Review Africa that the NGO is widening its reach to avocado, macadamia, potato farmers. The program which will also incorporate herb growers will see One Acre Fund aggregate produce from farmers before selling in bulk to large processing companies and export markets. This gives them access to markets they would not otherwise be able to reach.