Lead Farmers to train fellow farmers on VSLA
A group of lead farmers in Tharaka Nithi County have created a Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) where they’re gaining knowledge to enable them create other VSLAs in their village farmer groups.
The 27 farmers based in Gatunga ward were trained by the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) in partnership with the United Church of Canada (UCC) on the principles and benefits of VSLAs, and have each committed to train seven other farmer groups to help improve financial wellbeing of farmers.
“NCCK took us on an exchange visit to Embu where farmers practice VSLA. We learnt about the financial model, and decided to implement it. We’re also planning to train other farmers to adopt it,” says the group’s chairman Caleb Mwiti.
“The VSLA acts as a financial buffer for us since accessing bank loans is challenging, and the interest rates are also very high.”
The UCC team who visited the group during a project evaluation exercise this week, led by Wendy Gichuru praised the members for their commitment, and assured them of continued support to ensure sustainability.
The visit is part of the evaluation of the Conservation Agriculture Project being implemented by NCCK in partnership with CFGB and UCC and is aimed at enhancing agricultural and food value chains in Tharaka Nithi County.
