Youth empowerment in agribusiness

Entrepreneur

About Me

My names are James Irungu and I am 26 years old. I am a businessman in Muranga County in a place Mukuyu. Currently I am the manager of Mugoiri Modern Small-Scale Farming Organization (MMSFO) and I oversee the running of the project. As the manager I liaise with the Farmers Training Centre (F.T.C) and other stakeholders to train youth groups in agribusiness. I am a very innovative and creative young man whose hobbies include swimming and playing handball.

My Business

I founded MMSFO in the year 2013 and it empowers the youth with skills in modern small-scale farming. This project sprouted from urbanization and unpredictable weather patterns that have dealt agriculture in the region a blow in terms of low productivity. Urbanization has led to subdivision of once vast farming areas into small units of land that are unsuitable for profitable agricultural enterprises. In addition to this, the youth have a poor perception towards agriculture.
The objective of the project is to deliver knowledge and skills in small-scale farming techniques to the youth while empowering them into capital intensive agribusiness and to enable them make more informed choices in agriculture for improved and sustainable livelihoods.
OBJECTIVES
1. To deliver knowledge and skills in suitable small-scale farming techniques while empowering the youth into agribusiness.
2. To enable the youth to make more informed choices in agriculture for improved and sustainable livelihoods.
Agribusiness project activities
The project involves setting up a drip irrigated model farm.
Armed with this knowledge, the youth groups are in a position to liaise with the Youth Enterprise Fund intermediaries in their Counties for funding. The intermediaries carry out viability assessments for all proposed business plans.
The training averagely runs for a duration of 1 week after where an evaluation is carried out to determine the level of adoption of new technologies among the youth. Productivity levels in the model farms are later assessed and compared with other non-irrigated farms where it is proved that drip irrigated model offers improved and sustainable farming and is profitable in terms of Agri-business.

Loan Proposal

Project loan proposal
The purpose of this facility is agribusiness expansion. We intend to expand horticulture farming by venturing into other crops such as garlic and onions. To achieve our vision we need to add one more farm inputs such as water pump which will boost water supply. we need a loan to purchase farm inputs and to prepare the land for the next project . we also intend to hire more land to increase productivity:
• Drip Irrigation equipment (pipes, drip lines, water filter).
• Gardening tools- 2 hoes, 2 spades, rake, secateurs etc.
• Certified seeds ( water-melon, kale, garlic cabbage and onions.)
• Manure/ fertilizer.
• Pesticides/ fungicides.
Budget
Equipment and farm inputs cost
Drip Irrigation Equipment 200 $
Certified seed 50 $
Fertilizer 70$
Gardening tools 50$
Personal protective equipment 50 $
Water pump 600 $
grand total 1010 $
Recurrent costs such as salaries and administration cost are met by the profits accruing from the farm produce. We appreciate every support from zidisha community. It is through financial support from Zidisha that we have achieved major milestones in previous projects.

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