This archive report was first published on 23 June 2020.
On June 23, 2020, the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) announced that farmers in Kakamega County would receive grants worth 18.9 million shillings to facilitate Climate Smart Agriculture projects.
The grants will be distributed to farmers in four value chains: fish, poultry, dairy, and African leafy vegetables. The beneficiaries include Common Interest Groups (CIGs) and Vulnerable Marginalized Groups (VMGs) registered under five Community Driven Development Committees (CDDCs) operating at ward level across three sub-counties of Malava, Navakholo, and Lurambi.
According to Merina Adhiaya, the county coordinator of KCSAP, capacity building forums have already been conducted through CDDCs, which helped the farmers come up with proposals on the type of equipment and input they need to start the projects.
"The CDDCs, which are responsible for coordination and management of funds for the micro projects, undertook procurement but are monitored by the KCSAP office to ensure the products being purchased meet the standards," Adhiaya explained.
The KCSAP accountant, Harison Okema, confirmed that the funds were distributed equitably among the CDDCs, with Shinoyi-Shikomari CDDC receiving Sh.4.5 million, West Kabras Sh. 5.3 million, South Kabras Sh. 861,000, Butsotso Central Sh. 2.4 million, and Ingotse Matiya allocated 3.5 million.
The Project Procurement Officer Elias Lusiche said that the farm products had been procured and distribution started last week after the delay occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have procured feeds, herbicides, and vaccines, de-wormers, milking cans, seeds, and fertilizers for vegetables and animal feeds, as well as solar irrigation pumps, storage tanks, horse pipes, wheelbarrows, shovels, and digging equipment, knapsack sprayers, fingerlings, liner paper, nets, and harvesting pails, cooler boxes, deep freezers, one-day-old chicks, and building materials for poultry structures," he said.
The officer also noted that the farmers requested for tree seeds of gravellier, sesbania, moringa, croton, avocado, calliandra, and pawpaw trees, which have also been acquired.
The delivery process will involve value chain anchors specialized in items across the four value chains to ascertain, inspect, and confirm quantity, value, and quality of the inputs and equipment.
KCSAP is a World Bank-funded project aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change by upscaling Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices and supporting smallholder farming and pastoral communities in the country.
