Pamoma Correspondent
About 100,000 smallholder farmers and 550 agro-dealers in six districts in
four counties in Eastern Kenya are set to improve access to markets,
increase earnings and livelihood thanks to a project to be launched by AGRA
and USAID, Communications Director at Alliance for a Green Revolution in
Africa (AGRA) Sylvia Mwichuli has said.
According to a media advisory, the United State Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa
(AGRA) will launch a multi-partner initiative – Strengthening Agricultural
Input and Output Markets in Africa (SAIOMA) on 19 February, 2014 in
Nairobi.
“This initiative will improve farmers’ access to markets, increase their
earnings, and improve the livelihood and well- being of their families.
SAIOMA is a three-year Global Development Alliance between USAID, Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs that
is being implemented in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia,” noted the advisory.
The Agricultural Markets Development Trust (AGMARK) will lead a consortium
made up of the Cereal Growers Association (CGA), and Cooperative
Consultancy Insurance Agency (CCIA) to implement the project. “The SAIOMA
initiative is timely because it addresses a real need in the agriculture
value chain, of ensuring that farmers have access to necessary inputs
to raise their productivity and they are facilitated to increase
their overall earnings from agriculture. This venture is a win-win for all
partners involved,” said Karen Freeman, USAID Mission Director in Kenya.
The advisory noted that Kenya’s smallholder farmers, over the years, have
gone through a lot of challenges accessing inputs to be able to increase
productivity, and output markets for their produce to increase their profit
and improve their own livelihoods and those of their families. The Alliance
for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with support from USAID is
launching the SAIOMA project in Kenya to address this need to be able to
improve farmers’ productivity and access to markets.
Speakers at the launch include Dr James Nyoro, Special Advisor on
Agriculture to the President of Kenya, Steven Fondriest, USAID
Washington AOR, Karen Freeman, USAID Mission Director in Kenya,
Jane Karuku, AGRA President, James Mutonyi, AGMARK Managing Director,
Anne Mbaabu, Director of Market Access Program, AGRA and Anthony Ngosi,
Team Leader, SAIOMA Project