KENYA – Absa Bank Kenya Plc is taking a proactive approach to support small-scale farmers in the maize, dairy, and horticulture sub-sectors through an intensive training program.
This initiative aims to empower farmers with strategies to reduce post-harvest losses, improve their financial literacy, and enhance their agricultural practices.
To deliver this training, Absa Bank Kenya has partnered with Perfometer Agribusiness (PA), an agribusiness consulting company with expertise in supporting dairy investors and promoting profitable dairy enterprises.
The initial phase of the program is geared towards dairies located in Kiambu, Murang’a, and Kirinyaga counties. Subsequent training sessions will target cereal and pulse farmers in the Western region of the country.
Absa’s focus on agriculture is part of its broader effort to increase its market share in this sector, where other financial institutions like Equity Bank Limited, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, and Family Bank Ltd, as well as credit unions, have a significant presence.
The goal is to not only provide financial support but also offer practical solutions to the challenges faced by farmers, including addressing post-harvest losses.
According to Daniel Munyambu, the bank’s country agriculture business specialist, Absa does not have a predefined limit on the amount of financial support it can extend to farmers.
“We do not have a limit of the amount of money we are going to extend to the farmers as our focus is to deepen our intention in the agriculture sector,” he said.
“The bank’s primary objective is to deepen its engagement with the agricultural sector and provide holistic solutions that go beyond financial assistance.”
“As a bank, our new focus is not only providing financial needs but equally offering farmers solutions to other challenges they are grappling with, for instance, how to reduce post-harvest losses” Munyambu during a training of dairy farmers at Meved dairy company a private entity in Murang’a County said.
In the second phase, the bank Munyambu confirmed will expand the programme to cover several other dairy processors and dairy co-operative societies in other counties.
Subsequent similar training sessions will be conducted in the cereals mainly maize and pulses in the Western region of the county.
Sila Maosa, Project manager with Perfometer Agribusiness, confirmed that his company has been contracted to train 500 dairy farmers in different places in the country.
“The training is geared towards making the dairy industry viable by instructing farmers how to address bottlenecks they are facing today,” he added.
“The training is further focusing on feeding programmes, structures set up to prevent cows from injuries and harsh climatic conditions and good agricultural practices. The farmers once trained can also train their fellow farmers.”
