Absa bank has affirmed its commitment to continue supporting farmers and ensuring they adopt climate-smart agricultural practices.
Bank’s Country Agribusiness Specialist Daniel Munyambu says with the erratic rainfalls occasioned by climate change, it was time farmers moved away from rain-fed agriculture.
Speaking to Uasin Gishu News on the sidelines of the Eldoret stakeholder engagement, Munyambu noted that past support to farmers has seen many embrace irrigation farming.
“Farmers are critical to us as a business. They put food on the table. Globally, of the arable land available, 20 per cent is in Africa but has been shrinking with climate change,” said the Absa Bank Kenya Agribusiness specialist.
He further noted that as a bank, their focus is to empower a farmer through the provision of finances, and information, link them to markets as well as mentorship among others.
Munyambu said farmers have in the past focused on subsistence farming but with the changing times, agribusiness was the way to go.
“Agriculture is a business and it is possible for them (farmers) to make a living out of it. We work with them from planting until they harvest and find markets for them,” he said.
The North Rift region is considered the country’s food basket with most of the locals planting maize and wheat.
However, some have embraced diversification with more focus now being put on horticultural farming that is usually imported.
Support to farmers
Under the program to support agribusiness, Absa Bank Kenya has been offering financial capital to purchase inputs as well as access to facilities that will help ease the transportation of farm inputs and produce.
Farmers are usually also supported by the bank with the purchase of equipment they need to embrace modern-day agriculture that is technology-based like drip irrigation equipment, and solar panels among others.
“This region is critical as the bread basket, and we have seen success rates with farmers moving away from rain-fed agriculture to adopting irrigation,” said Munyambu.
