Community

We worked with Agrimech 2017-2018 at their Mwireri (Conservation Agriculture) Mechanization Hub. Hand-in-Hand trained Agrimech mechanization service beneficiaries to develop a saving culture and conduct table-banking. From this, the Kilimo Hifadhi (Conservation Agriculture) Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) was formed and it continues to grow.
At the Youth Talent and Enterprise Development Centre (YTEDC) we see the opportunities Agrimech is out to bring to farming communities. Agricultural mechanization is the key to attracting youth back into farming. It is through mechanized agriculture that our youth will form businesses and service crop and livestock value-chains. By doing so they will relieve women of the work burden that hoe-farming has placed on them for centuries. The answer to sustainable food security and climate change mitigation is in conservation agriculture like Agrimech trains for and supports. I am very familiar with Agrimech’s hubs and the services they promise. Through savings, farmers can afford mechanization services because SACCOs can (for example) pay for their land preparation at times when cash-flows dwindle. The debt can then be recovered at the time of harvest. Agrimech, accessible and affordable mechanization services give African farming hope for growth and sustenance.

I am a Medium Scale Farmer and former Mechanization Service Provider farming an over 70 acres of land in Tumaini, Nyandarua County. I have been farming for over 20 years. At some point I lived in UK and upon return home, I imported a wide range of machinery to work my farm and provide services to my neighbours, many of whom are potato and dairy farmers. My mechanization service did not succeed like I wanted, mostly due to the poor machinery service and other weak support systems available for me and my business. I am now planning with Agrimech how to team-up with them to make my farm a Centre of Excellence for mechanized farming. Agrimech will advance their Mechanization Hub business model as we organize and manage fellow Mechanization Service Providers through training and work bookings (to serve) through a digital platform. My farm will be a model for neighbours and others to emulate. I am excited that my previous huge investments in machinery will now have a partnership that will make me achieve my dream; the dream of mechanized farming for Kenya and Africa.

I have known and appreciated agricultural mechanization work of Agrimech. I have interacted with the company variously since the company’s founding some 7 years ago. I have known the Directors of the company even longer. I worked closely and in partnership with Agrimech as Manager of Agricultural Mechanization Services (AMS) Station of Nyandarua County in Nyahururu. Together we established mechanization field-days and show-cases for farmers to learn mechanized potato farming.
We conducted mechanization service trainings and investor field-days in partnership with GIZ and SNV. During my consultancy work for GIZ and the German Machinery Rings project of BMZ (of Germany), I had opportunity to understand the Agrimech Business Model more deeply and share in reporting their very professional approach to all they do in agricultural mechanization. Working with GIZ and using the Hello Tractor Digital Platform, Agrimech is best placed to propel the equivalent of the BMR in Kenya. Agrimech is a trustworthy company bound to make great business partnerships with stakeholders including the smallholder farmers they serve.

I am a Medium Scale Farmer and former Mechanization Service Provider farming an over 70 acres of land in Tumaini, Nyandarua County. I have been farming for over 20 years. At some point I lived in UK and upon return home, I imported a wide range of machinery to work my farm and provide services to my neighbours, many of whom are potato and dairy farmers. My mechanization service did not succeed like I wanted, mostly due to the poor machinery service and other weak support systems available for me and my business.
I am now planning with Agrimech how to team-up with them to make my farm a Centre of Excellence for mechanized farming. Agrimech will advance their Mechanization Hub business model as we organize and manage fellow Mechanization Service Providers through training and work bookings (to serve) through a digital platform. My farm will be a model for neighbours and others to emulate. I am excited that my previous huge investments in machinery will now have a partnership that will make me achieve my dream; the dream of mechanized farming for Kenya and Africa.

I am a prosperous small-scale Farmer and leader in several cooperative societies. In my 5 acre farm I grow potatoes, carrots, cabbages, fodder maize, snow peas, and french beans. I also do dairy farming, bee keeping and fish farming. I have installed a system for rainwater harvesting, runoff water harvesting and drip irrigation among other facilities. I have participated in several development-supported projects like seed potato farming, conservation agriculture, contract farming, as a demonstration farm. It is in such projects that I learnt of Agrimech Mechanization Services. In fact, I have worked with Agrimech as a work aggregator and I know well, their Mechanization Hub model of serving farmers to practice Conservation Agriculture.
Agrimech is an innovator and trainer of farmers, to know the advantages of and use mechanization. Unfortunately, Agrimech has not grown fast enough to be able to meet the demand of mechanization services in our area. Their efforts, especially in mechanized potato farming and use of air seeders in wheat farming will go a long way in saving farmers the labour and huge losses they incur. Mechanization will help attract our farmers back to their lands. Many have resorted to becoming manual workers, to earn a living from the many flower farms in my area. The farms don’t pay well, but farmers are desperate. We look forward to the day Agrimech will achieve more machines and equipment.

The Farm to Market Alliance (FtMA), is a consortium of six agri-focused organizations that have come together with the main aim of making markets work better for smallholder farmers. FtMA in Kenya has so far reached 68,530 farmers from 13 counties, in the maize, potato, rice, sorghum and soya value chains.
Farmers in these value-chains have received a lot of extension support in the past but mechanization has been the missing link, which is a game-changer. To the extent possible, FtMA has worked very well with Agrimech under their unique business model. However, their capacity has been highly limited because of owning few machines. Agrimech has served FtMA farmers in Homabay County, and in Meru, where one of FtMA’s Farmer Service Centres, Joseph Marangu, is also an Agrimech hub operator. Agrimech has introduced the chisel plough in their Conservation Agriculture approach. They have introduced the multi-crop planter, which is able plant grains of various sizes, from maize to sorghum). FtMA looks forward to the day Agrimech has enough machinery to serve the thousands of farmers in the FtMA programme and elsewhere. Like Agrimech likes to say, “Mechanization is the answer”. So far and compared to the work available, they have only “scratched the surface”.

We are a potato seed multiplication company. We always tell farmers that potato is a capital intense and a labour intense crop. We therefore know the potential that mechanization for smallholders holds, to enable them grow potatoes in a better way, increase productivity and scale up their acreage. When farmers can increase their acreage, thanks to mechanization, we know that also our business in this region will grow. Agrimech has a unique business model with great potential. We hope Agrimech is able to increase their equipment and geographic reach; there is huge potential and we are happy to support this by connecting farmers to them for mechanization services. As Agrico PSA, we can now tell the farmers that we have moved to year-round seed production so that we can ensure availability of certified potato seed all year round. We hope that soon farmers will also be looking for Agrimech services all year round.