Agricultural Finance Corporation

Today, we were pleased to host a team from The Agence Française de Développement (AFD), who paid a courtesy visit to our Managing Director, Mr. George Kubai. The meeting focused on exploring potential partnerships aimed at supporting SMEs in the agriculture sector. We are excited about the possibilities ahead and look forward to working together to strengthen and empower agribusinesses

"AFC ni shirika linaloinua wakulima kutoka chini hadi juu."– Josephine Halimaridho, Marsabit County.

Earlier today, a delegation from the Corporation paid a courtesy call to His Excellency Simon Kachapin Kitalei, Governor of West Pokot. The meeting focused on exploring potential partnerships aimed at strengthening the county's diverse agricultural sector by enhancing food security and promoting financial inclusion for West Pokot's farmers. The county boasts thriving value chains, including dairy, beef, potatoes, mangoes, and maize; however, production remains below its potential. The main barriers are limited access to credit and capacity-building opportunities for farmers. As agriculture is a devolved function, the Corporation is committed to bringing financial services closer to the people of each county. By setting up a branch in West Pokot, we aim to reduce the cost of credit, address financial access challenges, and offer capacity-building initiatives. The AFC technical team present today demonstrated the business case for this proposed branch, highlighting how it can support the county's key value chains and mobilize resources for the benefit of local farmers.

Join the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) in Marsabit, Lamu, West Pokot, and Meru counties as we connect with our beneficiaries and potential clients to discuss the impact of AFC financing, the challenges they face, and explore possible solutions together. In partnership with USAID Kuza, we are committed to empowering farmers and agri-players from Northern Frontier Counties, improving livelihoods, and expanding financial access in these regions. #AFCImpact #EmpoweringFarmers #USAIDKuza #FrontierCounties #AgricultureDevelopment

The smallholder farmers in Kenya have a single harvest per year with output per harvest less than 5T, and they store their produce mainly for family consumption and price discovery. The Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) is not well known among most smallholders, but upon sensitization, most farmers expressed interest in the system for safety and security of produce, access to financing options, and achieving a better price for produce. Financial inclusion is high among smallholders, with most having access to finance through mobile money agents, but lack of sufficient collateral and low-ticket financing requirements are major impediments to access to finance. The Agricultural Finance Corporation has the trust and confidence of farmers and stakeholders and is uniquely positioned to roll out a warehouse receipt-backed finance solution, and there is an enabling environment for a warehouse receipt solution to be implemented, with a few areas for remedy. Read more here: https://encr.pw/AQcat #WarehouseReceiptFinancing  #AgriFinance #SmallholderFarmers

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Andrew Mwihia Karanja CS Agriculture and Livestock Development has held a meeting with project heads of the Enable Youth Kenya Program (Empowering Novel Agri-Business Led Employment) and project partners; African Development Bank Group(AfDB) and Agricultural Finance Corporation(AFC). Enable Youth Kenya Program aims at creating jobs, ensuring food and nutrition security, income and creating sustainable livelihoods for unemployed youths in Kenya by equipping youth with agribusiness skills and financing youth enterprise through affordable loans. The CS gave his commitment towards supporting and empowering youth in agribusiness to achieve food security and economic sustainability among Kenyan youth.

Our Managing Director, George Kubai: Warehouse receipt financing has the potential to revolutionize agricultural financing in Kenya by enabling farmers to access credit against stored commodities, thereby easing the burden of post-harvest losses and offering them better bargaining power. However, for this to be successful, the product must be designed with a deep understanding of the realities on the ground the challenges faced by farmers, the capabilities of financial institutions, and the regulatory and environmental factors thatimpact the agricultural sector.

We’re excited to be at the Warehouse Receipt Financing Feasibility Study Dissemination Workshop, hosted by Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya in partnership with the Warehouse Receipt System Council (WRSC) and AGRA. This workshop is dedicated to sharing key findings from a recent feasibility study on warehouse receipt financing in Kenya. Attendees will dive into discussions around the study's insights, focusing on the demand-side, supply-side, and environmental factors that shape the development of this finance solution in the country.

This morning, our Managing Director, George Kubai, held discussions with Mariatu Kamara, the Country Director of IFAD Kenya, along with officials from the National Treasury at his office in Nairobi. The talks focused on the progress, achievements, and challenges in the implementation of the Rural Kenya Financial Inclusion Facility (RK-FINFA) project, in which AFC serves as an implementing partner. RK-FINFA, a six-year initiative running from 2022 to 2028, is funded by the Government of Kenya (GoK) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The project aims to transform the rural and smallholder agriculture sector by enhancing access to suitable financial services for smallholder farmers and rural micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, with a focus on private sector-led development.

This afternoon, our Managing Director, George Kubai hosted a delegation from AGRA and the Malawi Agricultural & Industrial Investment Corporation PLC (MAIIC) at our headquarters in Nairobi. The team is on a peer-to-peer learning visit to Kenya to explore the strategies used by Kenyan Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), particularly the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), in financing Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and agro-dealers that support smallholder farmers, with a focus on women and youth. In 2018, FSD Kenya and AGRA jointly supported the Corporation to develop a wholesale financing model which has led to increased outreach. AGRA, through the Youth Entrepreneurship for the Future of Food in Africa (YEFFA), is supporting MAIIC in catalyzing women and youth employment and resilience in agriculture through access to appropriate finance.