Standard Group launches farmers' media platform

Florence Kamunya harvests peas on her farm at Mutaga village within Sagana Settlement Scheme in Mathira, Nyeri County. [PHOTO: KIBATA KIHU/STANDARD]

NAIROBI, KENYA: Efforts to make Kenya food-secure received a major boost on Thursday following the launch of a platform to offer unrivaled information to farmers across the country.

The Standard Group is taking farming to the next level through its FarmKenya initiative which supports both small and large scale farmers by providing relevant information across all its media platforms.

The initiative is seeking to partner with a cross-section of stakeholders throughout the agriculture value chain – from the farm and research lab, to the market and dining table – to provide niche media platforms and products that will address the serious gaps existing in farming, production, processing, marketing and consumption of food and other farm produce.

“Over the years, we have had great passion for matters food security, agri-business, famine and drought mitigation, and in ultimately helping Kenya attain sustainable growth of the agricultural sector,” says Orlando Lyomu, Standard Group Chief Executive Officer.

“This requires commitment to support both small and large scale farmers by providing relevant information across all our media platforms,” he notes.

“As a result, we are launching, the FarmKenya Initiative to bridge the huge information gap in dissemination of niche content to players in the agriculture and agri-business sectors.”

He says that the new initiative will create a new ecosystem that will provide communication solutions to all stakeholders in the agriculture value chain wherever they may be – using our digital platforms, television, radio and newspapers.

Agriculture is one of the sectors under the economic pillar intended to drive Kenya’s growth. The sector contributes about an average of 20-25 percent of the GDP, 75 percent of industrial raw materials and 60 per cent of export earnings.

The sector also accounts for 65 per cent of Kenya’s total exports, 18 per cent and 60 percent of the formal and total employment respectively.

The sector comprises of industrial crops, food crops, horticulture, livestock and fisheries, and employs such factors of production as land, water, labor and farmer institutions. The three industrial crops that have been pivotal in boosting the vibrancy of agriculture include tea, coffee and floriculture.

Since 2013, the Kenyan government has been undertaking agricultural sector reforms that are expected to spur growth. A new regulatory framework, arising from the consolidation and harmonization of the sectorial laws is under implementation.

Public-Private Partnership Investment in agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas, if not across the whole country, is a key strategy for boosting productivity in the sector and it is what Standard Group aim to achieve through the FarmKenya initiative.

Already the media house has targeted shows and products such as The Smart Harvest and Technology magazine, which comes every Saturday inside The Saturday Standard and focuses on agribusiness, technology and farming in general.

It also runs The Next Frontier show on KTN News once a week, featuring innovative agriculture by farmers across the country.

“With the FarmKenya Initiative, we seek to shift our engagement to a new level. The initiative seeks to create a new value proposition for Kenya’s agricultural sector and to reach out beyond Kenya’s borders to the rest of Africa,” Orlando says.