Forty-two people living with disabilities in Homa Bay are among farmers contracted to cultivate and supply sorghum to Kenya Breweries Limited plant in Kisumu.
They have been contracted to pilot a new initiative in which the beer maker is looking to increase representation of PLWDs in its entire value chain. The initiative is expected to increase inclusion of PLWDs in KBL value chain to three per cent by 2025.
In the deal, KBL has partnered with Sightsavers – a charity organisation championing the rights of people with disabilities – to rope in PLWDs into its core business opportunities.
KBL managing director Jane Karuku said 42 farmers in Homa Bay are cultivating a total of 76.5 acres. They started growing sorghum in March.
She said the firm provided pre-financing inputs and extension services to farmers at an average of Sh8,200 per acre.
The incentives were in the form of seeds and fertiliser, as well as extension services on access to machinery, land preparation and crop management.
The MD said expansion of the project into other sorghum growing regions would be pegged on the success of the pilot in Homa Bay.
“For us to deliver this initiative, we decided to start small and expand as we learn. We will consider expanding in the next financial year subject to how the project performs in the current fiscal year,” she said in an interview.
Homa Bay Farmers with Disabilities secretary Jacob Odele said the initiative has transformed their lives.
"This in our view is better than what we got from maize and other crops. We are also thankful for the support extended to us as we broke into commercial farming,” Odele said.
He said the initiative had strengthened food security in their households since farmers keep part of the nutrition-packed yield for their own consumption.
“We set out to absorb PLWDs into the core business opportunities in the value chain rather than implementing ad hoc corporate social responsibility interventions.
Karuku said KBL’s demand for sorghum was slowly picking after Covid-19 restrictions were relaxed and bars partially reopened.
“When Covid-19 restrictions that included closure of bars led to low sales, we were forced to reduce our grain demand from farmers. The pre-Covid projected demand for the 2020-21 financial year was 40,000 tonnes of sorghum and barley.
During lockdown and up to August our projected demand went down to 12,000 tonnes for sorghum and 12,000 tonnes for barley. However, when the restrictions were lifted, our projections went up to 20,000 tonnes,” she said.
