Poultry project launched in Kenya
As reported in The Star, the ‘From Chicken to Market’ project will support more than 1,000 poultry farmers in Kibwezi. The fund will be used to help with credit facilities, capital, vaccinated insured chicks, chicken feed and vaccines.
The project will be offered under KCB MobiGrow, a mobile-based platform which provides financial and non-financial services to smallholder farmers in Kenya and Rwanda.
When ready, the chicken will be bought at a pre-contracted price by KCB market partners, guaranteeing farmers of a ready market. Proceeds will be remitted to farmers through their KCB MobiGrow accounts to ensure the recovery of loan amounts.
KCB head of MobiGrow, Dickson Naftali said: “We continue to accelerate access to financial services which is in line with our agenda to simplify the lives of our customers to enable their progress.”
KCB MobiGrow, in partnership with MasterCard Foundation, also supports dairy, maize, potato, sorghum, and rice producers.
KCB Group has committed Sh50bn for the next five years to be extended to smallholder farmers. Start-up enterprises in the sector will be offered credit facilities at concessionary rates.
Speaking during the launch of the scheme, Makueni deputy governor, Adelina Mwau was reported to have praised KCB for “empowering farmers by providing financial services and expertise”.
“It is very encouraging that organisations such as KCB are cognizant of the critical role agriculture has in the economy and are investing in the sector,” Mwau said.
