Kikuyu sub-county youth officer Maureen Musyoki has hailed the collaboration between Amiran Kenya and the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) to provide modern farming equipment to the young people.
The collaboration is meant to support the area’s young farmers in acquiring greenhouses and global compliant agricultural input. These are expected to shift beneficiaries from traditional farming methods that have been used in the area for a long time.
Speaking from her office, Musyoki said the fund will offer young people opportunities to venture into agri-business through the Agri-vijana loan.
“The loans will be used to purchase the Amiran farmers kit which contains two green houses, a drip irrigation system, a collapsible water tank, a farmer’s sprayer, gold medal seeds, a nursery set, fertilizers, agrochemicals, a plant support system, Amiran farmer’s kit insurance and free training for the group members or individual,” she said.
She added that the requirements needed are that the group or individual applying must have a minimum of a quarter of an acre piece of land and must present ownership documents. If the land is leased, a written consent from the owner must be presented to show that one has approved and it must not be for less than three years.
In addition, beneficiaries must have a constant and reliable water source and must be able to raise the 10 percent of the investment outlay.
She added: “The security of the loan will be the financed equipment or personal guarantees by groups or individual members. Groups must be registered with a relevant government ministry and group members must be between 18 and 34 years.”
Beneficiaries must also be residents in the constituency of application.
Musyoki added that YEDF is also offering fully computerised incubators with a capacity holding of 528 eggs on credit. The youth will be given a period of six months to pay for the equipments. They will also be required to produce recent bank or M-Pesa statements and other relevant business records.