The Anchor January 2012

Weath creating 

project launched

By Anchor Reporters

A

 campaign seeking to address chronic hunger and poverty in Kenya has offi­cially being launched. Dubbed Imarisha Kenya , the program is being extended to more areas after a piloting phase which began in Siaya district in 2008 proved successful.

It is cantered on de­vel­opment of micro small enterprises and irrigation farming and supported by a conglomeration of 22 local and international companies op­er­ating under ‘Business Alliance Against Hunger [BAACH]’ It aspires to spur food security, job oppor­tu­nities, income gen­eration and business oppor­tu­nities for commu­nities in project ar­eas.

BAACH was mooted by the World Eco­nomic Forum in 2006 during the annual con­ference held in Davos , Swit­zer­land with the partners bestowed responsibility to define and implement commercially viable and sus­tainable business solutions to fight against hunger and poverty.

Global companies involved are United Nations Development Program [UNDP], USAID, Rockefeller foundation, Bill Gates foundation, Unilever, Sealed Air, Monsanto, Nike, General Mills, Kraft, TNT, Techno-serve and MDG centre/millennium village project while the local ones are Amiran Kenya limited, Ag­ri­cul­ture, Finance and Trade ministries, Kenya Commercial Bank, National Oil Corporation, Equity Bank, Eye Kenya and Maseno University among others.

Piloting activities in Siaya, Nyanza province included rice retailing, honey production and irrigation farming. Extension was thereafter directed to Yatta, Murang’a and Bungoma districts in Eastern, Central and Western provinces with the specific areas being Matuu, Gatanga and Kanduyi respectively.

Agriculture permanent secretary Dr. Romano Kiome recently presided over the official launching of the program in Eastern prov­ince.

He said official launching of the project will also be done in Central and Western prov­inces. He spoke at Wikwatyo youth group farm in Matuu, Yatta district where the function was held.

Bulletins highlighting successes of the Siaya project which was distributed to local residents during the launch informs that Kenya was chosen as the pilot country with the intention of using the key ex­pe­riences/learning’s to roll out similar programs in Africa.

The government, according to the report recognizes the initiative as part of the agricultural sector development plan for the vision 2030.

Ten additional constituencies were ear­marked for the activities by January 2011, this year the same timeline ex­pansion of Siaya project was imple­mented. For Kithendu, Iria-Kiriga irrigation scheme in Gatanga and Kanduyi projects, the report says BAACH is working with 22 community based organizations [CBO’s] to reach the following objectives namely agri-business development solutions for increased impact on food security and economic growth and supporting imple­men­tation of irrigation for 2,000 farming unit including drip irrigation, green housing, improved seed, fertilizer and disease control appli­cation and post harvest handling/quality man­agement.

Other objectives include to promote water harvesting, prudent water usage and management discipline, facilitate route to markets, market links among farming communities in the target areas and improve on marketing and value addition of farm produce and equip entrepreneurs with skills to manage and grow their businesses and facilitate access to fi­nancing and new technologies.

The report talks of 7,200 jobs newly created through micro small enterprise agribusiness, micro small enterprise development and expansion of retail and services also giving consumer better access to affordable goods and services.

It adds that BAACH is working with 18 partnerships and community based or­ga­ni­zations which are being facilitated to increase capacities at the constituencies to realize the targets. To oversee the expanded program, BAACH entered into public private partnership with the gov­ernment through the ministry of ag­ri­cul­ture and the other private sector players in October 2010 which later trans­formed into Kenya National Public Private Partnership [PPP] in mid 2009.

The activities in Siaya were cantered on increasing food production, giving access to affordable products and services and sus­tainable income generation through engagement of entrepreneurs, explains the bulletin.

It states that 20 traders engaged in rice retailing in partnership with dominion farms generated a net income of Sh 15 million while 80 people were employed while price of the commodity reduced by 33 per cent in view of the retailing transactions.

Revenue generation per each of the 300 households involved in beekeeping in collabo­ration with Honey Care Africa, Equity Bank and Millennium Village [MV] Sauri who manage 600 hives was Sh 15,000. 

Access to financing increased from 17 per cent to 41 percent, fertilizer use from 20 per cent to 70 per cent, improved seeds use from 30 per cent to 90 percent while diseases loss reordered 45 per cent to 20 percent.

In a tabulated presentation, the pub­li­cation cites $ 1,140,560 which translates to Ksh 106,072,080 million as the net income for I,000 households hosting 5,000 people since piloting began 3 years ago.

It adds that 200 Micro and Small En­ter­prises [MSE’s] were established engaging 300 youth. At Iria-kiriga irri­gation scheme, the public invested into the 24 hectares irri­gation in­fra­struc­ture covering 120 farms with potential to be ex­panded to 56 hectares was sh 36 million.

 Thus, this is the kind of benefits commu­nities in other areas where the project are being rep­li­cated should an­tici­pate for.  Saying 60 percent of the local population depended on relief ‘food in the event of drought, Dr. Kiome was optimistic that the dependence culture will be done away with successful imple­men­tation of the projects.

Citing drip irrigation as a success story in Israel , the PS said the same was being replicated in Kenya to boost production. He suggested expansion of the imple­mented projects to accommodate about 2,000 to 3,000 farmers for wider impact. He vowed to continue monitoring progress of the projects through quarterly reports to be generated by project teams drawn from the relevant min­is­tries and deployed on the ground to oversee implementation, moni­toring and leverage of the best farming practices.

Dr. Kiome had earlier toured Matuu Ghost Memorial School where Amiran has launched a green house project involving cultivation of tomatoes and kales through drip irrigation. 

Dubbed ‘Amiran next generation farmers’ initiative’, the project aspires to impart the learners with skills on appropriate farming technology for future application The PS commended Amiran for initiating the green house projects in nearly all secondary schools in Yatta district and wished rep­li­cation of the same in primary schools to impart pupils with farming culture as well.

On this, he requested local MP Mr. Charles Kilonzo to intervene using CDF funds. Re­it­er­ating his call to farmers to shun tra­di­tional farming systems which are subsistence oriented, he instead urged them to

embrace the modern approach for better yields.

Parents, he noted ought to inculcate their children with farming culture while at the tender age.   On the Sh 2.2 billion Mavoloni dam in the district to be put up by the gov­ernment, Dr. Kiome said it will spur additional irrigation in the area once the project is complete.

The massive dam, covering 1,500 acres will be fed by river Thika meandering nearby.  The government, the PS added was in the process of resettling and com­pen­sating families evicted to pave way for the project. 

BAACH board member Mr. Yariv Kedar said Kenyan farmers had potential to do well but lack of knowledge, know how and high quality inputs hindered them. He said Amiran’s next gen­eration farmers’ project will inculcate students in schools hosting them with farming technology for future application.

The Israelite commended Dr Kiome who revealed of having pioneered drip tech­nology in Kenya in 1996.  Kenyans, he said, were fantastic

population with desire to learn new skills.

He commended UNDP, the Red Cross plus the other BAACH players, saying the collaboration will lead to more success in achieving the desired goals. BAACH Kenya executive board chairman Mr. Kinyua Mbijjiwe rooted for increased food pro­duction citing the rising population trend.

Enterprise farming, appropriate tech­nology application including pes­ti­cides, irrigation and use of certified seeds, capital mo­bi­li­zation and re­searching on market before planting, he noted were the key factors in realizing success by commercial farmers. 

With regard to raising capital, he referred to Equity bank and UNDP as the leading financiers. The alliance is confident that the project was impacting positively on food security, economic growth, micro and small enterprises and job creation in the project areas.