Mr. Wambua Ndonye, a 61 year-old farmer, a father of five and a resident of Mwala in Eastern Kenya had been planting maize and beans in his four acres of land for many years until he crossed paths with the Semi- Arid Region Commercialization Programme implemented by World Vision Kenya and Farm Concern International with support from World Vision Australia. Mr. Ndonye had only been producing enough from his staple crops for home consumption with mangoes being the major commercial plant..

He chose to plant watermelon (Sukari F1), a high value crop after commercialization campaigns by FCI and World Vision and harvested over 1 tonne during the March- May rain season. 

“Since I started growing watermelons and mangoes, my household income has increased tremendously. Traditionally, I used to grow maize and beans every year but when I started growing watermelons; my income increased up to three times. I will now concentrate on watermelon, mangoes, butternuts and onions. We are now sure to get market for our produce since FCI is facilitating market linkages. I would advise more farmers to embrace the high value crops to boost their household income besides planting maize and beans for household food security,” he says.

FCI, through Eastern Kenya Household Resilience Project (EKHRP) introduced the Commercial Village model and created market linkages which enabled Mr. Ndonye to sell watermelons amounting to Kshs. 35,000 at price of Ksh. 30 per kilogram. This was a big win for him unlike the previous seasons when he sold water melons at Ksh. 20 per kg due to collective bargaining.

Mr. Ndonye has been able to pay Kshs. 23,000 (USD. 271) school fees for his son in Railway Institute College and saved Kshs. 4,600 (USD. 54) for purchase of seeds for the next season. He hopes things can only get better as he has now doubled the acreage under water melon thus high income..

The Semi-Arid Region Commercialization Programme implemented by World Vision Kenya and Farm Concern International with support from World Vision Australia has enabled 1,899 farmers form saving schemes and save over USD 35,729. This has increased farmers income base enabling them to meet their needs and invest for future. They are also able to get loans from these schemes at a fair interest of 10% per annum enabling them meet short and long term domestic needs.

The Programme has continually pushed the savings agenda as a game changer in improving the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers.  It seeks to enhance and sustain economic impact by facilitating access to existing and new profitable markets through commercialization, women empowerment and savings mobilization. The targets value chains are green grams, tomatoes and cowpeas in Kalawa and watermelons and onions values chains in Mwala. 

The programme implemented in Mwala and Kalawa areas of the Eastern region of Kenya considers savings as one of the factors necessary for sustaining the economic impact of the smallholder farmers and enhancing their livelihood resilience. 

The Semi- Arid Region Commercialization Programme agenda is rooted in Kenya’s long-term development blueprint, Vision 2030 launched in 2008 which aims to create a “globally competitive and prosperous country with a high quality of life by 2030.” Vision 2030 is designed to guide the country towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and beyond, transforming Kenya into “a newly industrialized, middle-income country.” (IFAD 2013). 

However, evidence has shown that agriculture-led growth in Kenya is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth led by industry. The key to better performance in agriculture lies in boosting smallholder productivity and developing non-farm activities. This can be done by making financial services (including savings and loan schemes) widely available to rural communities to enable the growth of smallholder enterprises.

Saving is a practice that the smallholder farmer has over the years found difficult to inculcate into their lives due to low-incomes. It has however been identified as one of the factors that strengthen farmer organizations as well as the individual farmer. They provide affordable credits where commercial lenders like banks do not lend despite agriculture being the mainstay of the East African economies.  Additionally, when agricultural enterprises qualify for loans, interest rates are too high for small-scale farmers.

However, through the dedicated efforts of FCI staff, farmers in this Programme have saved USD 35,729.11 cumulatively in the two regions. In Kalawa region 715 farmers have saved USD 17,072.82 while in Mwala, 1,184 farmers have saved USD 18,656.29. As a result, farmers no longer have to rely on micro-finance institutions and banks for loans and credit.  

FCI has also worked hand in hand with Commercial Villages (CVs) to come up with loan schemes in both regions. In Kalawa, 239 loans worth Ksh 601,300 (USD 7,074) have already been disbursed to farmers at a fair interest of 10%. Out of these loans, the CVs in Kalawa have already made a cumulative interest of Kshs. 177,030.

As an added advantage of the saving scheme, Vision Fund and Equity Foundation have come on board to train farmers on loan management. This will lead to effective and professional management of loans and operations of the saving schemes.

Farmers in Eastern region are reaping millions of shillings from sales of green grams, tomatoes, water melons and onions amounting to Ksh. 1,306,080.  The increase in sales was attributed to capacity building forums and exposure visits to other regions of Kenya to learn various aspects of agronomy and markets carried out by Farm Concern International (FCI) and World Vision Kenya under the Semi- Arid Region Commercialization Programme which is funded by World Vision Australia.. 

As a result of the forums, the farmers adopted the skills learned and consequently led to improved production. 

The Programme aims to enhance and sustain economic impact by facilitating access to existing and new profitable markets through commercialization, women empowerment and savings mobilization.

Besides capacity building, the Programme facilitated access to existing and profitable markets in the target region through Commercial Village Business Forums in Mwala and Kalawa regions where 247 farmers were linked to 6 informal traders from Machakos. During these forums, the farmers pledged to increase the production of tomatoes, pulses and watermelons to meet the market requirements by the traders. Similarly, the traders promised to buy at least 20 tonnes of watermelons from Mango Commercial Village.

To ensure increased farmers financial capital and sustainability, the Commercial Village Model (CVM) calls for farmers to save some money from the sales made.  From the sales made by farmers in Kalawa and Mwala regions, 239 farmers have saved USD 14,980. This money is circulated among the farmers through loans for access to inputs and other needs at the household level.  

In Mwala, the saving as at May, 2014 was USD 13,722 with 355 farmers having loans worth USD 5,262. This trend is likely to improve with the increase of income from the sale of produce as a result of improved market linkages.

FCI, through the DoHoMa project, has facilitated the formation of 189 Commercial Villages in Limuru, Lari and Githunguri in Kiambu County which have been linked to 3 formal and 12 informal markets. They have also been trained on disease & pest control as well as safe use of chemicals. The formal markets include Uchumi supermarkets, Kijabe hospital and Konjung’a hotel while the informal ones include Kangemi, Wakulima, Muthurwa, Gikomba, Limuru, Githunguri, Wangige, Korogocho, Githurai, Makongeni, Mombasa and Nyambari markets which have 380 traders who currently buy directly from farmers. The partnership was established after FCI conducted 87 market forums in the markets which resulted to formation of 7 market associations, 38 exposure visits of buyers to the farmers and facilitated 243 village business forums. As a result, farmers in these sites recorded sales worth USD 18,661,271.

The sales realized resulted from different factors including capacity building where over 2,800 farmers were trained on commercialization aspects that included scheduled production, bunching and other quality specifications. This resulted to increase in the produce supplied to various markets with most of the farmers meeting the market specification which reduced postharvest losses. Trainings on effective technologies and innovations that would lead to more productivity using fewer resources was also provided. Farmers were also sensitized on the importance of afforestation and in July 2014, 13,300 trees were planted.

In addition, sensitization and establishment of savings schemes was another key intervention which resulted to savings worth USD 8,782.76 registered within 12 Commercial Villages. 7 group accounts have been opened in collaboration with Equity and K-Unity banks. 

In Kiambu site (Kenya) farmers have been connected to input dealers like seeds and chemical companies.  The main benefits derived from the partnerships are increase of yields per acre which also increases the income realized and savings from discounted prices because of collective inputs purchase. For example, an insecticide (Alpha Tata) that costs USD 1.8 at retail price is sold at a discounted price of USD 1.4. Cumulatively, farmers have been able to purchase inputs worth USD 19,752,941 instead of USD 24,098,588 making savings worth USD 4,345, 647 an 18% savings from the gross price.