Twelve businesses in some of the remotest parts of Kenya will create hundreds of new jobs, and provide markets for thousands of farming families, following the latest round of investment funding provided by AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund.

More than €6m in match-funding has been provided to 12 businesses, to enable companies operating in a wide range of sectors to increase their production capacity and boost markets for large numbers of rural poor farming households.

Businesses involved in coffee, cotton, and fish farming are amongst those to have received funding from the programme,  which has placed particular emphasis on enterprise that would create market opportunities for those affected by changing climate, including semi-nomadic pastoralist communities.

Previously, AgriFI Kenya awarded more than €4m in financial support under the programme, which is supported by the European Union and has also received funding support from Slovak Aid.

The new award recipients include businesses working in commodities including coffee, cotton, macadamia nut, pyrethrum, gum arabic, dairy, vegetables, fish farming and animal health.

All of the businesses receiving AgriFI Kenya Challenge Fund backing are required to invest match-funding from other resources to support their business growth plans.

The fund, over five years, is seeking to support up to 50 businesses, create up to 10,000 new jobs, and develop markets for up to 100,000 small-scale farming producers. More than 200 companies applied for funding in the second call, which will be followed by a third and final award of financial support by the AgriFI Challenge Fund in early 2021.