The managing director of AFEX Kenya, Tabitha Njuguna, announced to the public that the company is providing 5,000 Kenyan farmers with Ksh117 million to capitalize on inputs and expand their operations.
Nigeria success story
The business wants to guarantee the food security of the continent to duplicate the success in Nigeria. According to a Financial Times rating, the company recently held the top spot in the area of Agriculture & Commodities for Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies in 2022.
The technology that runs our business is among the best on the continent and is essential to our ability to offer inputs, consulting services, delivery of goods, and, most importantly, market access, all of which are essential to the future of agriculture in Africa.
Technology
Njuguna noted that farmers will have access to cutting-edge technology that would enable them to receive crucial logistical delivery, advice, and inputs.
We aim to remove one of the main obstacles to farmers expanding their businesses, which is access to finance “said she.
AFEX intends to grow in several African nations during the next 10 years, including Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire.
Ayodeji Balogun, the chief executive of AFEX, reiterated her comments by pointing out that this is a chance to collaborate with Kenyan farmers and boost food production “She said.
We’re eager to work with Kenyan farmers to help them expand their operations because this is one of the most dynamic commodity marketplaces in the world.
![Farmers](https://www.kenyastatenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot_20220626-2220352-300x184.png)
We are well aware that growing food production is useless without a reliable and effective storage infrastructure to support commodities trading and that technology will be crucial to the future development of all of Africa’s agriculture.
How to apply
Since its founding in 2014, Afex has created and implemented a workable commodities exchange model for the African market. By the end of this year, it is expected to have a positive impact on one million producers by offering services for productivity, value capture, and market access.
Alex will promote trade with Africa worth more than USD 500 million over the following five years by implementing an effective market structure.
Food imports
According to the most recent official data, Kenya’s food import cost reached a record high in the six months leading up to June, adding stress on household budgets that have already been severely damaged by the Covid-19 outbreak.
![Farmers](https://www.kenyastatenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot_20220626-2219062-300x230.png)
According to Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) import data, between January and June of this year, traders ordered food and beverages worth Sh103.34 billion, including live farm animals for slaughter and breeding.
Budget
According to information gathered by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, this is Sh12.35 billion, or 13.57 per cent, higher than the Sh91 billion that was spent on food imports in the same period last year (KNBS).
The central government has been allocated 2.4 per cent of the budget for agriculture, an increase from 2.2 per cent last year. Furthermore, due to Kenya’s devolved governance system, county governments will make additional public investments in the sector.
County governments receive a budget equal to 12% of the total budget. Historically, county governments allocated an average of 6% of their budget to agriculture. As a result, if county governments follow the same pattern as in the past, total government investment in the sector is expected to be around 3.2 per cent of the total budget.
This means that Kenya’s total funding for the sector is still far short of its international commitment of $1 billion.
On the plus side, the agriculture budget for this year has distributed funds more equitably across sub-sectors. Funding will be made available for programs that promote resilience to climate change and variability. There is also funding to improve smallholder farmers’ productivity and incomes, such as through the provision of subsidized inputs.
Other players
The expansion of a sustainable agriculture industry depends on funding, several top-tier organizations supporting port projects connected to agriculture, much similar to AFEX.
- Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
- E4Impact
- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
- International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
- OPEC Fund for International Development
- Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
- African Development Fund (ADF
- African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)