Kakuma, 29 November 2024 (Public Communications and Media Relations)

Sixty-eight Farmer Service Centres (FSCs) have successfully completed the Business Development and Entrepreneurship Coaching (BDEC) Program under Kuza One (Kuza Biashara).

This training is part of the “Vijana in Kilimobizz” project, a collaboration between the Mastercard Foundation and the World Food Programme (WFP). The initiative aims to empower youth and women in Turkana by fostering innovative agribusiness opportunities within food systems.

Director for Cooperatives, Shemmy Ebulon, urged the FSCs to register as cooperative societies and adopt the cooperative business model. She emphasized the County Government’s commitment to providing pre-cooperative education to help FSCs explore market opportunities through market societies.

Deputy Director of Youth Affairs, Linus Ekidor, commended WFP for implementing the FSC model, aligning it with the Governor’s agenda to enhance food security in the county. He encouraged FSCs to focus on value addition for their products to remain competitive and achieve better market returns.

“The County has a wealth of products,” Ekidor noted. “There is a need to enhance production by registering more farmers under FSCs. This will unlock value chains for market access, significantly impacting our youth and women.”

WFP Program Officer, Peter Mwaniki, outlined upcoming projects for the following year. He noted that the efforts demonstrated by the FSCs could attract more investments to the county.

“The successful completion of this training not only awards FSCs with certificates but also enhances their capacity to train other upcoming Farmer Service Centres,” Mwaniki said. “We are also exploring mushroom farming in the county to diversify value chains.”

The training, facilitated by Brian Wamukota of Kuza, focused on enhancing leadership skills, building self-confidence, and improving business expansion, scalability, performance, and profitability.

With Turkana’s population comprising nearly 500,000 youth and women, Vijana in Kilimobizz is unlocking new economic opportunities in the agribusiness value chain. So far, over 1,650 farmers have been registered under FSCs, creating more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, significantly improving livelihoods across the county.

During the graduation ceremony, outstanding FSCs were recognized and rewarded for their exemplary achievements.