The sorghum partnership in Meru county continues to innovate. A new initiative, involving three private sector partners, is helping to introduce climate-smart practices such as legume rotations and conservation tillage, and create youth entrepreneurs who will provide services (plowing, weeding, spraying, threshing) at affordable rates.
The partners are COMEHA, which provides business support services; Agrimech, which leads the training component; and Equity, one of the largest banks in Kenya. Mobilization is complete, technical training is ongoing, financing arrangements have been finalized.
2SCALE has helped introduce greengrams as an intercrop with sorghum; it fits well in the farming calendar, boosts soil fertility, and generates substantial profits within a 3-month crop cycle. More than 100 young farmers (50 men, 50 women) have been trained on greengram agronomy, particularly conservation agriculture methods that help maintain soil structure and nutrient levels. For sorghum, we’ve introduced motorized sprayers, low-cost mechanized weeders and modern threshers to ensure high-quality grain. We’ve also introduced bench terraces to fight soil erosion.
To make sure these innovations take root, we’re creating a pool of local service providers who will provide agronomy and crop protection services to farmers for a fee. A training and mobilization session, attended by 92 youth (37 women), demonstrated the benefits – and the profitability – of mechanization. A second round of training targeted 34 youth (10 women) who were keen to become service entrepreneurs and willing to invest in mechanization equipment.
A financing program to support these would-be entrepreneurs. Agrimech will provide weeders and sprayers. Entrepreneurs will pay 20% of the cost up front. The rest will be a loan from a new revolving fund setup in partnership with Equity Bank. The fund will provide entrepreneurs with loans at at 4% interest – the lowest in the country. The fund is being managed by COMEHA, which already has a long-standing relationship with the community. Six entrepreneurs have made their initial payments; most of the others are half-way through registration and credit vetting by the bank.