Date Posted: 10/7/2012 3:13:45 AM
Posted By: ombaba Membership Level: Gold Total Points: 1110
Kenya has been experiencing perennial food shortage over the years. This has created new business opportunities for budding entrepreneurs. However the youth have been left behind on this business opportunity because agribusiness is considered not fashionable, lack of training and lack of credit facilities among others reasons. Cooperation between private agribusiness firms and small scale farmers will help to deal with some of these issues. The aim of such kind of cooperation is to increase agricultural production and income. In such a venture, small scale farmers organize themselves around a core private company that buys their output while providing marketing, managerial, mentorship, business skills, networking opportunities, and technical expertise and even at times credit to the farmers. Through this arrangement the farmers have a ready market and also high income levels for their produce. This in turn encourages more production. One such kind of partnership is by Amiran kenya limited. Amiran partners with farmers by providing what they call the Amiran farmers kit. The kit has all that is necessary for a farmer to have a full season.s harvest. Amiran has also partnered with the government through the youth fund to enable youths access agricultural loans. Tin loans known as agrivijana enable youth groups to acquire the kit which includes a greenhouse, drip irrigation system, fertilizers, seeds, water tank,training, crop protection and insurance..Another type of cooperation is between Canken international and farmers in rift valley region. Canken is an international aviation firm which has its kenyan base in Eldoret international airport. Canken enhances horticulture growth by buying produce from farmers in the region and then exporting it to European markets. Through canken farmers are able to get critical mass produce to enable them to reach export markets which they would not be able to as individuals. Another good example is in chicken farming where, kenchic limited gives startup technical and marketing services to chicken farmers. Other areas where these kind of partnerships can work is in banana farming and fish farming. For more examples of private firm and small scale farmers partnerships visit: www.growkenya.org/partners.aspx
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