As part of efforts to boost farmer access to finance, officials from the Micro Enterprises Support Programme Trust (MESPT) and MicroSave Consulting (MSC) paid a courtesy call on Tuesday to the County Executive Committee (CEC) office for Agriculture. The meeting culminated following previous discussions and built on the inception meeting held on 24 February 2026, which aligned the county and consortium partners on project rollout, roles, and immediate actions.
The discussions focused on supporting and strengthening SACCOs under the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP), which provides affordable credit to farmers across key value chains, including potatoes, coffee, avocado, dairy, and poultry. Partners explored ways to improve lending procedures, risk management, and operational systems to ensure SACCOs deliver reliable financial services.
MESPT will provide wholesale financing to SACCOs, enabling them to lend to farmers at affordable rates. This ensures that farmers can access funds to purchase inputs, adopt modern farming practices, and expand production, while SACCOs remain financially strong and sustainable.
MicroSave Consulting will provide technical expertise to support SACCO operations. MSC will help design farmer-friendly financial products, advise on lending procedures, train SACCO staff, and establish monitoring systems for loan usage and repayment. Their involvement ensures loans are managed transparently and reach farmers efficiently.
NAVCDP continues to guide SACCOs in vetting eligible farmer groups, leveraging its knowledge of 29 FPOs across 30 wards in Uasin Gishu. Ongoing county interventions include animal health and dairy productivity measures, energy solutions to reduce reliance on the grid, milk chilling infrastructure, mechanization support (tractors and hay bailing equipment), logistics support, and fodder stores. These interventions demonstrate the county’s commitment to ensuring farmers benefit from structured, market-oriented support.
The partners also discussed establishing a network platform to link SACCOs, farmers, private investors, and technology providers. The platform will help close investment gaps, strengthen market linkages, and improve coordination across value chains.
Engagement with technology companies such as Microsoft was explored to support digital tools for SACCO management, market access, and performance tracking. The meeting was attended by Dr. Sam Kotut, CECM Agriculture, and Eng. Abraham Kiptalam, Chief Officer, who both reaffirmed the county’s commitment to supporting SACCOs and enabling private sector engagement in agricultural value chains.
The initiative forms part of a 12-month programme running until January 2027, with clear targets to improve SACCO capacity, expand financial access, strengthen value chains, and ensure active participation of women and youth. By supporting SACCOs with both finance and technical expertise, MESPT and MSC aim to indirectly empower farmers, foster market-led growth, and promote sustainable, profitable agribusinesses under NAVCDP.
