The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is seeking to enter into a partnership with Uasin Gishu County Government to promote financial inclusion for farmers.
Speaking during a courtesy call to the County Executive (CeC) for Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries Samuel Yego, the team from Agribusiness and Mobigrow KCB discussed a possibility of funding farmer groups.
Yego pointed out that this was a great idea since farmers who are now exploring other crops like Coffee, Macadamia, Avocados, pyrethrum, fruits, vegetables and dairy to which KCB group had an interest in.
"We already have youth groups under 'kijana na acre' flagship project that we have funded through a revolving fund and women groups that were in 'Inua mama na Kuku' program as well. We have their data and some have really upscaled and would do very well in this kind of partnership," said the CeC.
The KCB Agribusiness head Ms. Clarise Aduma said the support will purely depend on the available data from the county.
“We are reimagining and redefining the agricultural sector with a view of transforming agribusiness by accelerating financial services access. We will depend on the county on the provision of data. Aside from the financial support, we will also partner in farmers training and policy formulations. We want farmers to do commercial agriculture and dairy," said Ms. Aduma.
She explained that they would partner in financing farmers that would exploit crops that have a stable market. The bank will also focus on women and youth in Agriculture.
The acting Agriculture Chief Officer (CO) Joseph Cheboi appreciated KCB team for the idea saying, "this will grow our farmers to new heights in farming".