By Boniface Mulu
Kitui County, Kenya: The Kitui County government through the County Agriculture and Livestock Development Ministry has rolled out inclusion grants for farmers’ savings and credit cooperative societies across Kitui County.
The grants are by the National Agricultural and Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP). The county government rolled out the program in the county recently where the ceremony took place within the Tharaka Assembly Ward Office compound within the Kitui County’s Mwingi North Constituency.
The County Agriculture and Livestock Development Minister, Dr. Stephen Mbaya Kimwele was the event’s chief guest. The funding for the program’s first phase is some 13 million shillings. And the initiative’s second phase is going to be rolled out, expanding the project’s impact across the county.
The grant is designed to help the saccos establish offices and support initial operational costs, benefitting the farmers across the entire Kitui County. It provides much-needed financial support to the farmers to cover the office rent, book-keeper stipends, internet services, short message service (SMS) and data bundles, application program interface (API) services, stationery, office furniture, computers, and printers, fire and burglar-proof installations and member mobilization efforts.
Addressing the function, Kimwele termed the initiative as a game-changer that will help ease the saccos operations in Kitui County. He said: “This initiative is a game-changer for our farmers as it will strengthen their cooperative structures, enabling them to access better services and improve productivity.”
“By supporting the saccos with essential resources, we are empowering them to effectively manage their operations and deliver more value to the members,” the minister added. Kimwele urged the farmers to join the groups to reap maximum benefits from the government and development partners. The NAVCDP’s inclusion grant is part of a broader strategy to enhance agricultural productivity and promote value chain development. The project aims to boost the local economies by strengthening the role of the savings and credit cooperative societies in facilitating financial inclusion and improving access to agricultural services for the farmers across Kitui County.
“The project among others also seeks to enhance the food security in Kitui County in line with the Governor Dr. Julius Makau Malombe’s development plan for the county,” Kimwele said. The occasion was also addressed by the Tharaka Assembly Ward Member Muthengi Ndagara among others. The NAVCDP is a community-driven development project that seeks to increase market participation and value addition for targeted small-scale farmers in Kenya. It is a Kenya’s government project with co-funding from the World Bank and the Kenya’s government.
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