The Chamber President, Dr Eric Rutto, met with representatives from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), led by Dr Cheng Cheng, the Lead for Asian Partnerships, and Mr John Macharia, the Country Manager for Kenya. The meeting also included a delegation from high-level agricultural companies in China.
AGRA an African-led partnership mission is to help millions of small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. Its programmes develop practical solutions to significantly boost farm productivity and incomes for the poor while safeguarding the environment.
The conversation focused on the agricultural sector and explored ways in which KNCCI and AGRA could collaborate to enhance the entire agricultural value chain. This collaboration spans from generating and breeding high-quality seeds, providing top-notch machinery, promoting sustainable farming techniques, and ensuring adherence to export standards.
Discussions took place on how Africa could leverage agricultural investments, highlighting a fund from the Chinese government aimed at subsidizing the cost of high-quality machinery for farmers. The goal is to improve the agricultural sector through training and capacity building, investment in modern technology, advanced equipment, and agro-processing. The potential partnership in using agricultural drones to simplify business operations was also considered.
KNCCI expressed its intention to diversify exported products to China beyond avocados and macadamia nuts, including chilies, mushrooms, beef, water melon and other agricultural goods. It was also noted that KNCCI plans to lead a business delegation to the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in November, seeking more opportunities for Kenyan businesses to export their products to China. KNCCI called for collaboration in several key areas: addressing post-harvest losses, warehousing, value addition, creating demonstration farms as educational tools, promoting smart climate farming, SME diagnostics in agriculture targeting 3000 women for financing with an ultimate goal of over 127,000 businesses.
Present were KNCCI’s National Directors Lucy Muchoki, Cynthia Nyawira, Shakir Swaleh, and the CEO of KNCCI, Mr. Patrick Nyangweso, along with some members of the Secretariat.
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