Farmers from various counties have reported increased income after improving their enterprise using low-interest loans from UKaid.
UKaid allows farmers access to funding through its Finance Innovation for Climate Change Fund (FICCF), which is provide to those who specialise in dairy (Bomet, Embu, Nyandarua and Nakuru), sorghum/cassava – Homa Bay, Siaya and other counties bordering Lake Victoria and indigenous chicken (Bungoma, Kakamega, Busia, Siaya and Kisumu).
The loans are provided through microfinance institutions Inuka, ECLOF, KREP and Century Bank.
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The British High Commission takes prides in the story of a Mr. Kagwe, from Ngorika in Nyandarua county, who had been delivering milk to the New Ngorika Dairy, until early 2015, when they shifted to the UKaid-funded Inuka/FICCF dairy partnership.
“Before joining the UKaid funded scheme, they struggled to access cheaper credit with flexible repayment options. Their situation was worsened by low yields and their inability to make dairy investments such as pasture establishment and shed construction on their farm,” says the High Commission in its Facebook page.
“Through the Inuka/ FICCF initiative they were able to acquire a loan which was used to purchase two Friesian heifers”.
The funds also enabled Kagwe construct a zero-grazing shed and buy a chaff cutter to process livestock feeds.
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Mr Kagwe repayed the loan through monthly deductions made on proceeds from their milk delivery.
“With the new cows, the farm’s monthly income has increased to over KSh30,000 from the previous Kshs 18,000 which was not enough for them to sufficiently invest on their farm,” said the UK High Commission.
Mr. Kagwe’s future plans include setting-up a biogas generator to make use of the immense animal refuse at his farm and also sink a borehole to address perennial water shortages in the area.