Enhancement of Farmer Entrepeneurship for Development (EFED) The Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers (Kenfap)  is the umbrella organisation of agricultural producers' organisations in Kenya. Kenfap has over 60 area branches (at district level), 36 commodity associations and 15 co-operatives. The membership of KENFAP is about 1,8 million farmers. The mission of KENFAP is to empower the farmers' voice.

Under the program Farmers Fighting Poverty Phase 1 (FFP-1) Kenfap has taken up the initiative of realizing micro-projects at the area branch level. In total 50 micro-projects have been implemented. The micro-projects have enabled the members of KENFAP to start small scale economic activities for its members while at the same time generating income for Kenfap branches. Nevertheless, part of the micro-projects suffered from a lack of sustainability due to lack of business planning and economies of scale. 

Under the program Farmers Fighting Poverty phase 2 (FFP-2)  Kenfap still aims to mobilize its grass-roots members around economic activities while incorporating the value chain approach.

The Kenya national Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP) has been collaborating with Agriterra over the last twelve years.  This collaboration has led to immense growth and development of the Federation from an insignificant, resource poor, unknown farmers union to a vibrant and significantly influential Federation of agricultural producers.  Currently, KENFAP represents the non-state actors in the agricultural sector at the prime ministers’ quarterly consultative round tables and the semi-annual presidential fora.  Internationally, the Federation holds the chair in the African Committee of the now defunct International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), represents Anglophone Africa at the IFAD Farmers Council, and in the board of the International Planning Committee and the More and Better support to Agriculture network.

KENFAP has been partnering with Agriterra during the farmers’ poverty programme phase one.   The most peculiar component of the partnership revolved around economic activities at the farmer level where Agriterra entered into contract directly with the KENFAP Area Branches (ABs).  In this arrangement, though considered a key player, KENFAP’s role was majorly advisory and faciltatory.

The arrangement worked miracles in several areas, while in others it did not yield much result.  Several evaluations revealed that the same had promising results if handled slightly differently in view of enterprise choice, advisory on the initiation/entry, growth, sustainability and the exit strategies of the chosen ventures.  KENFAP has therefore taken time to reflect on the independent evaluation reports and develop an approach that is commensurate to the need of farmers and one, which gives flexibility to handling some of the identified concerns.

Under the farmers fighting poverty phase II, KENFAP intends to facilitate the grassroots entrepreneurship through farmer-led economic venture in an articulate and well organized fashion. This entails a pre-inception study to identify the existing enterprises (value chains) and order them into priorities.  The top three priorities will be further interrogated to identify the investment possibilities therein.  Being possibilities from the priority value chains arrived at in view of objective prioritization criteria, it is most likely that once amplified, such a value chain will benefit many.  The investment options will be identified in view of their effect to the value chain, occurring in two forms.  They could be advantageous on the APVC if amplified therefore opportunistic or they could be hindrances/constraints to the value chain which if alleviated would lead to amplification of the chain activities and outputs.

From the two categories, a second level prioritization will be conducted to arrive at the investment options of the concerned AB.  The options will therefore be given back to the farmers and details of the extent to which their uptake would amplify the value chain unveiled.  They will make the final decision on what to invest in, which will therefore be further interrogated to arrive at the finite form of the arrangement.  Investment will thereafter be structured to realize the intended benefits.  This arrangements guarantee farmer benefits on a wider scale through increased returns to investments.

KENFAP, through its Services arm, will provide all the necessary advisory and technical inputs needed for a vibrant business unit.  This will include pre-, actual and post-investment advisory services for optimal performance.  This will be achieved through establishment of an Agribusiness Support Centre (ASC) whose functions will be business development, advisory, provision of market intelligence and establishment of relevant linkages. The role of Agriterra will be to support the entire initiative technically and financially in order to ensure that intended objectives are met.   Agriterra will also conduct independent periodic evaluations to ascertain relevance, effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of service, growth and development of the economic activities.  On the other hand, AB communities will drive the economic activities for the multiple benefits which may include income, diversification of products and market exploration among others.  To this end, several developmental goals including poverty alleviation, food security and employment creation will be achieved.

General objective: 
1. To transform farmer groups into entrepreneurial entities through capacity building and engagement with actors in priority value chains for improved rural livelihoods

Specific objectives:
1. To enable KENFAP to sensitize and select Common Interest Groups (CIPs) to cluster into and form  Producers Business Groups (PBGs) in Priority Agricultural Product Value Chains:  3 months;
2. To allow these PBGs to develop a bankable business plan: 3 months;
3. To identify and finance designated business development services needed by the PBGs in the first year of the operation: starting September 1st, 2011.