DMDP Project Farm Estate Advisors Form a CBO

The contracted Farm Estate Advisors (FEAs) by MESPT under the Danida Market Development Partnerships (DMDP) Project recently established a community-based organization (CBO) called “Farm Estate Advisors CBO”. The group made of youths (under 35 years) has a membership of 21 members of whom 10 are males and 11 are females.

In a catch-up meeting, the ambitious generation Z elaborated that the group was started after a series of conversations on what else they could do beyond being contracted as critical agents of change to enhance service delivery to farmers training, knowledge transfer, establishing and maintaining a Farm Estate. The motivated youths decided to start a group to channel their energy so as to attract and create more value for the community and for themselves.

They express that they see the world differently and are not afraid of trying new things. They see the world as a place full of possibilities and believe as a group that no challenge is too high, and no goal is too big for them. On February 27^th, 2021, they formed the CBO and elected their officials. They went ahead to register the CBO and on July 5^th, 2021, they received their registration certificate from the department of social services Taveta Sub County.

As they waited for the registration certificate, they firmed up their areas of focus which include:

Value addition of bananas and cassava. This was inspired by the fact that a lot of bananas and cassava in Taveta go to waste due to poor crops management, poor post-harvest handling practices, lack of readily available market, and unattractive prices set by brokers etc.

Environmental conservation: they will venture into an organic commercial nursery to provide clean planting materials now that the world is focusing more on eating healthier and safer foods with no chemicals.

Table banking: they want to grow the CBO into a co-operative in the near future. Working backwards, they established the need to set a clear path of how they will achieve their goal through small but sure steps.

Ultimately, the groups envisions that their venture will create revenue for the CBO and create more jobs in Taveta which in turn will translate to more money for farmers and more revenue for the county government and the country at large. Their activities will contribute to the attainment of SDG 1: No poverty, 2: Zero Hunger, 8: Decent work and Economic Growth and 13: Climate Action.

The Farm Estate Advisors CBO is unstoppable, they assert that overally, their goal is to be adaptive and disruptive. They are cognizant that a big chunk of the youths in Kenya, and Taveta at large are unemployed but for them, they want to create opportunities because they see a future in agriculture. They already have a 2-year plan in place. Over and above the plan, they indicate that they will continue to support agriculture production and capacity building of banana farmers as FEAs and entrepreneurs.

As we concluded the catch-up meeting, the group is keen to learn if their story will be published on our website and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn). They know the value that comes with information, communication, and technology. They inform us that their WhatsApp group is a very important platform which they use for their everyday updates. The optimistic lot plans to leverage technology on most of their plans including marketing of their services and products.