Young small scale farmers undertaking agribusiness have now easy and affordable access to modern farming inputs to enable them increase their farm produce. This is after the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and Amiran Kenya entered into a partnership agreement to enable young farmers acquire farm inputs and agricultural training that would see them shift from traditional to modern farming methods. In this partnership, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund will provide the newly established Agrivijana loan of KES 358,334 to young farmers, who are in groups, to purchase Farmers Kits from Amiran Kenya. The loan attracts no interest but includes 8% management fee. Qualified youth groups are expected to raise at least 10% of the cost and have access to a minimum of a quarter acre of land, as well as access to water. They will have a grace period of four months before they start repaying the loan which can be adjusted according to the maturity time of the crop. The loan repayment is structured according to yielding seasons of the crop where repayments will be higher during the high yielding season and lower during the low yielding season.

The Amiran Farmers Kit is designed to meet their specific needs and include greenhouse, a drip irrigation system, collapse water tank, gold medal seeds, nursery set, high quality fertilizers, agrochemicals, health and safety protective gear, training, agro-support, and insurance.

Speaking during the signing of the MOU Ceremony between the two institutions, the Chairman of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, Mr. James Gitau Singh said that the initiative is part of the Fund’s mandate of promoting youth enterprises through provision of credit and other business development services.  It is also in line with the Fund’s focus on providing sector specific loan products to young people to enable them take advantage of their talents and resources in their vicinity and do business.

(R-L) YEDF chairman, Mr. James Gitau Signh, YEDF CEO Mr. Mwatata Juma Mwangala, Amiran Kenya MD, Mr.  Pinhas Moskovich and Amiran’s head of Agro – division Yariv Kedar display copies of the signed MOU

The loan will be provided in two phases to youth groups across the country.  “We have set aside KES. 150 million to help purchase a total of 420 greenhouses to two youth groups in each constituency in the first phase while the second phase will see us provide loans to other youth groups across the country” said Mr. Gitau Singh.

The new established product is expected to attract many young people into agribusiness as a viable trade to help them create self employment and attain financial independence. “We expect that thousands of youth will be attracted to this cool farming concept and therefore be gainfully engaged” said Mr. Gitau Singh.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Fund, Mr. Juma Mwatata, the new product would not only enable young people access self employment but also improve on food security for the country. “The reason for giving this sector specific loan is because despite strides made towards industrialization, still remains an agri-based economy and therefore farming is the only way to go to not only create youth employment but also for the whole economy and for food security” he said.

The Managing Director for Amiran Kenya Mr. Pinhas Moskovich acknowledged young people in Kenya to be hardworking and self driven to attain success. He said that the Amiran Farmers Kit will not only provide the appropriate agricultural technology but also an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills on how to make use of the available resources to do successful farming.

The Signing of the MOU ceremony was attended the Board of Directors and Staff of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund among other stakeholders.

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