I teach farmers how to turn their farms into gold mines

Ronald Diang’a was not always cut out to sow oats and count chicks. The 2019 Youth Agripreneur of the year, as selected by a team of judges at the 254 Youth Entrepreneurship Awards & Mentorship Programme (254yeamp), is in fact a trained a Petroleum Geologist.

He represented Kenarava Group Ltd, competing against over 18 submissions and emerged winner in the Agribusiness Category. He is not only a horticultural farmer but also the Founder and Executive Chairman of Kenarava Group. Ronald and two co-founders joined to form this youth-led agribusiness consultancy looking to solve problems of food and environment.

The three founders of Kenarava Group are beneficiaries of the Jerusalem declaration that was signed by the President of Kenya and the Prime Minister of Israel, to train about 100 young people on advanced agriculture for a period of one year for the whole projects of five years.

“We were the first cohort to go for the programme. I wasn’t even a farmer then. I was just excited to get a chance to go to Israel but by the time we came back, I already had the idea to start a company, and I shared it with my colleagues.”

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And that was the birth of Kenarava Group, a consultancy company that does advisory in farm-based projects. What do they really do? For example, a farmer has two acres of farming land and no idea where to start, Kenarava helps him start at the planning stage by doing a basic soil test and employ any necessary correctional measures to it and also identify what technological innovation to use be it drip irrigation or a greenhouse. Then at the setting up stage, they actualise the plans and supply and install the necessary machinery. The final stage, which is the core stage, is management where they do crop management, nutrition i.e. fertiliser application and pest control and training.

Usually, projects are three months long but the farms are visited as regularly as twice a month. They also offer off-farm training in their offices in Westlands, on food safety and the role of technology in increasing food productivity. And they do the training for free. Twenty five participants grapple for limited slots on a first come first served basis.

The 254 YEAMP Award couldn’t have come at a better time for Diang’a. The award was offering an opportunity for outstanding entrepreneurs like Diang’a to submit their portfolios for a chance to win a whole year of mentorship by selected captains of industry, peer advisory boards, sponsors prizes and business packages. Having been in business since 2017 December, they were ready to scale up. The award was a recognition of their hard work and the much needed mentoring to cross over from being a startup.

Farmers approach his company with various challenges hoping to grow their yield and consequently their income but the main challenge he has recognised is farmers do not treat their farming as businesses.

“The agronomic support is lacking as well as the technical know-how. Another problem behind Kenarava’s inspiration is how enthusiastic and keen on agribusiness young people in Kenya are. They lack capital, or land or even mentors and I was itching to support their passions,” says Diang’a.

The trainings are offered for that reason. As for the future, 2019’s focus is on solving the issue of capital using alternative models of financing. Banks cannot give out loans citing that agriculture is risky. Contract farming could be an alternative like the move by EABL to pay Sh1b to sorghum farmers. [Winnie Makena]