SMALL BUSINESS TRAINING PROGRAMS
Farm income: opportunity in the back yard
Kakamega lies in a lush region of Kenya where the climate is excellent for agriculture, but population pressures have reduced farmers plots to as little as a quarter-acre. Meanwhile, decades of no-input, intensive maize cultivation have left many farm soils depleted. While most people continue to grow maize (because it is their staple food), there are unexploited and relatively more reliable income opportunities in activities like raising layer hens or growing higher value horticultural crops like fresh greens. Importantly, these do not require nearly as much land as traditional food crops like maize, but to make his or her efforts pay off in these areas, a farmer needs good working knowledge and adequate start-up capital.
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In an area where jobs are scarce, successful small farm ventures can provide sustainable incomes greater than minimum wage |
Our small farm business training programs use local agricultural experts to teach low-cost, modern farming techniques that are based on a growing body of field studies conducted in western Kenya. Our programs cover a foundation of agribusiness topics like managing soil fertility, reversing acidification, preventing poultry diseases, and planting marketable crops.
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