This case study provides and overview of the journey that AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund awardee Vert Linited has been on as it seeks to develop a financially viable inclusive sourcing model.
Optimising impact through innovation in processing: Coconut Holdings
This case study explores how support from the AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund is helping Coconut Holdings to address sectoral challenges associated with erratic and seasonal variations in pricing, reliance on traditional agronomic practices, and dwindling coconut yields.
Gum harvesting uplifts women, helps them fight climate change
by Andrew Kasuku https://www.the-star.co.ke/sasa/lifestyle/2021-07-09-gum-harvesting-uplifts-women-helps-them-fight-climate-change/ Amid thorny acacia trees and bushes struggling to green, a smaller plant defies the environment to bloom, tolerating the harsh sun and aridity that has suppressed other plants to sprout red flowers. A hundred metres away …
Kenya’s Women Entrepreneurs Held Back from Corporate Procurement
by John Njiru https://kenyanwallstreet.com/kenyas-women-entrepreneurs-held-back-from-corporate-procurement/ When Annmarie and Nancy Kathendu – the two sisters – walked to Nakumatt in 2014, they were attempting to disrupt a grocery market largely dominated by men. Armed with a cumulative four-decades of knowledge wealth in …
Kenyan farmers swap eucalyptus for avocados to preserve water sources
By Anthony Lang’at for Devex https://www.devex.com/news/kenyan-farmers-swap-eucalyptus-for-avocados-to-preserve-water-sources-100608 Nearly 20 years ago, Edward Koskei planted 700 eucalyptus trees on his farm, along Berea village’s Ngetunyek River in Bomet Central, Kenya, after friends had informed him that the trees were a good investment. But it didn’t take long before …
Hustles and hurdles of starting a business
By Nancy Kathendu and Margaret Ngetha Picked n Packed was founded in 2012 by two sisters Nancy & AnnMarie Kathendu using personal savings. The hurdles that drowned us at the commencement of this company accumulated into losses that wiped out …
It’s all smiles for mango farmers
By Patricia Karau – PFIL staff Francis Kimeu is standing at his mango farm (right in the middle) holding his waist with both arms. He takes a glance at what is now his pride and joy. If only he knew …
Revival of the pyrethrum sector in Kenya set to transform livelihoods
Elizabeth Mukuhi is a pyrethrum farmer in Turi, Nakuru County. Elizabeth who begun growing pyrethrum in April 2020 nostalgically recalls how pyrethrum farming sustained her family when she was young. It is through proceeds from the sale of pyrethrum that …
Farmer increases earnings with new bio-fertiliser
Mary Wanjiru is a farmer in Kirinyaga County who has reaped numerous benefits from the use of Mazao Flourish bio-fertilizer from Real IPM. The 50-year old mother of two has been a farmer all her life and grows French beans, …
