Persons interested in working as agripreneurs in Nyeri County have up to February 17 20226 to submit their applications for consideration.
The recruitment is a joint venture between the National Government and devolved units and is being run in 46 Counties through the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP).
In Nyeri, the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Aquaculture Development intends to recruit at least five qualified agripreneurs in each of the 40 wards.
Those interested in the positions are required to file their applications through the online link https://apeoi.kalro.org to be considered for shortlisting according to an advert posted on the County Government Facebook page.
“The Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Aquaculture Development, through the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP), invites applications from qualified and interested candidates for the position of Agripreneur. The Agri-preneurs will play a key role in strengthening last-mile agricultural extension service delivery, “reads the advert.
To qualify for the position, one must be in possession of a post-secondary certificate either in Agriculture (agronomy, horticulture, livestock production, range management, agricultural economics) or in a related field.
Applicants must also be between the age of 18 to 35 years.
Besides, one must be digitally literate, have knowledge of the local dialect and be a resident of the ward he or she is applying from.
Other qualifications include ability to communicate in both English and Kiswahili and willingness to work on a full-time engagement.
The Government of Kenya with support of the World Bank (WB)and through NAVCDP and the Food Systems Resilience Project (FSRP) rolled out this six-year program in 2016 to enhance food security and strengthen food systems resilience in the country.
The project focuses on among others building agricultural capacity, natural resource management, market access, and policy improvements to mitigate climate related food crises.
In January 2024 Nyeri launched a Sh500 million agriculture improvement program under NAVCDP with a view of increasing market participation by 100,000 farmers within the county.
Under the programme, WB was expected to spend Sh20 million in implementing the program over a period of five years.
During its launch of the program Nyeri governor, Mutahi Kahiga said the project would cover five priority value chains namely coffee, banana, avocado, Irish potatoes and dairy farming.
He further stated that the project would build on the success realized by the National Agriculture and Rural Inclusive Growth Project(NARIGP) and the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP) which he said would help transition small scale farmers from subsistence production to commercial agriculture.
At the time,134, 358 farmers had been selected to be trained on the program.
“I have seen the changes brought about by NARIGP and KCSAP. We have seen the fortunes change for milk farmers in Mukurwe-ini and the general farmers in areas such as Kieni where dissolute land was converted into a haven. And now NAVCDP is coming in to build on the foundation set by two existing World Bank funded projects by increasing market participation and value addition for targeted farmers in select value chains in project areas,” stated the governor.
On its part, the Department of Agriculture was to focus on championing effective water use by developing water efficient irrigation systems and setting up water harvesting projects.
The Department was also to strengthen the county’s drought adaptation capacity and climate pliability through provision of climate-resilient-certified seeds.
“As much as the project will deepen investments in existing interventions around enhancing food production, community led farmer extension and water management, the project will also scale up value addition for the products and create market linkages with agribusiness off-takers and small and medium enterprises. It will also enhance access to credit by the participating farmers,” said Kahiga.
By Samuel Maina
