Greenforest Foods Ltd a Kenyan Small and Medium Enterprise firm is recruiting and contracting 2,000 smallholder farmers in Baringo and Elgeyo Marakwet counties with support from the European Union and Slovak Aid through its AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund. This is a two-year project is supported by the European Union and Slovak Aid through its AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund.

Our operations have identified groundnuts as a crop with potential of providing farmers in the two counties with considerably higher margins and profitable incomes as groundnuts have been proven to be resilient in harsh weather. It takes 3-4 months to harvest and this gives smallholder farmers a faster return on their investment.

Along with support from the EU, Greenforest mobilizes farmers, offers training on contract farming, agronomy, land preparation, groundnuts husbandry, pre & post-harvest management, good agricultural practices, smart farming and provides extension services to farmers in collaboration with county governments of Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo to access to clean seeds and aflatoxin management at the farm level to get the value chain guarantee aflatoxin-free produce which is nutritious and safe for consumers.

The project is focused to minimize and possibly eliminate the use of chemicals and pesticides which are harmful and costly to the farmers. We encourage farmers to use easily available natural manure, which together with improved seeds and good crop husbandry will ensure high yields with minimal impact on the environment

Experts in the agricultural sectors says peanut farming has potential to generate two to three times better margins than other crops like maize. However peanut farmers still face challenges such as lack of knowledge on climate-smart agricultural practices, lack of market access and proper agronomy information, as well as limited access to quality seeds and extension services, factors which have constrained production that AgriFI Kenya intends to eliminate. This support has enabled farmers to unlock their potential.

Practically all groundnuts produced in Kenya are grown by smallholder farmers who face multiple challenges that include increased climate vulnerability, limited access to quality seeds and other inputs, lack of know-how of climate-smart and good agricultural practices, and a lack of market access and information, This project addresses such vulnerabilities so as to create stable safe food security among the affected smallholder farmers.

Greenforest benefits to the over 2,000 smallholder groundnuts farmers in Baringo and Elgeyo Marakwet counties is guaranteed ready market offered at buying centres conveniently located the farmers localities, training, link to various input suppliers and competitive farm gate prices both for shelled and unshelled produce including timely payment. The participation of youth and women is heavily encouraged to help support job and employment creation through supported farming.

This produce is processed into Peanuts Snacks and Peanut Butter in addition to the exiting honey line of product. The long-term objective of this project is for Greenforest to access high-quality aflatoxin-free peanuts locally.

Currently, the company sources all its peanuts from Malawi and this value chain initiative using smallholder farmers will bridge the supply chain deficit faced by the company which imports all its peanuts from Malawi due to Kenya’s inability to produce.

Our EU partnership project is facilitating the company to address availability of quality groundnuts locally, gets us as an SME to grow our business, but also increases income for local smallholder farmers and improve their livelihoods. Our commitment to off take the produce at pre-agreed prices is a vote of confidence on the farmers’ part.