Safaricom Foundation has launched a Sh120 million agricultural training program that is recruiting 5,000 young farmers in Busia County
Between 2025 and 2027, the Wezesha Agri-Eco Hub Project will host four-month group training courses. Training will be held on a 12-acre centre of excellence demo farm at Alupe University which will have demonstration plots on farming practices that adapt to climate change and increase their production as well as livestock facilities for hands-on learning. 50 computers in the center will also be used to tutor farmers on how to access and sell their produce on online platforms. The best-performing farmers will also get seed money and value-addition training to expand their agribusinesses.
Studies done in Kenya have shown that farmers who use farming practices and technologies that adapt to climate change increase their crop yield by 39 to 61 per cent. Farmers using online platforms to sell their produce in developing countries have also been shown to increase the money they get from farming because of the higher selling prices online and the low marketing costs of e-commerce platforms.
60 per cent of the chosen participants for the project which is being run together with the Lake Basin Development Authority and Ustadi Foundation will be women and 40 per cent will be men with a focus on farmers living with disabilities.
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The first phase of the program will train and give the young farmers skills that will help them learn how to turn their farming into agribusinesses, as well as give them digital literacy to improve their access to markets.
During the practical phase at the 12-acre demo farm at Alupe University in Busia County, they will learn modern climate-smart agricultural practices, the use of setting up biogas and solar irrigation systems
4,000 of the best-performing farmers from the programme’s classes will be linked to digital finance platforms that will offer them loans, insurance, and savings for their agribusinesses.
“By March 2026 the project will have facilitated the adoption of climate-smart agriculture practices among 2,500 youth-led farms, The demonstration farm at Alupe will be a testing ground for these innovative farming technologies which farmers will take back and use in their farming,” informed Joseph Ogutu, Chairman of the Safaricom Foundation.
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This he hoped would inspire new agripreneurs who will redefine agriculture in Kenya and prove it is a viable pathway for the country’s youth to achieve self-employment.
For young farmers aged 18-35 who want to participate in the programme, contact Ustadi Foundation at 0707 387 313 or register at Alupe University at the start of the year.
Image Courtesy: Safaricom Foundation