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AgroCares partners with GIZ to improve soil fertility in Kenya

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The DeveloPPP.de AgroCares Project aims to improve soil fertility management in Kenya by providing 8,000 small-holder farmers with enhanced soil information.

DeveloPPP.de AgroCares is a development partnership project namely “Soil Fertility by Enhanced Information Services in Kenya” between Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and AgroCares, funded by German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Its objective is to improve soil fertility management in Kenya through enhanced information for small-holder farmers and refining accessibility of soil testing services through AgroCares portable soil scanner sensor technology.

Reaching 8,000 farmers with sensor-based soil testing services

The project began in August 2018 and will end in December 2020 making it a two-and-a-half-year project. The goal is reaching out to 8,000 farmers in Central and Western regions of Kenya and to approach 30 new sensor-technology soil service providers.

Raising awareness of the importance of soil fertility

DeveloPPP.de AgroCares aims to create outreach to farmers through linkage with the extensive GIZ Kenya’s small-holder farmer network. The aim of the project is to create awareness of the importance of soil fertility management for improved productivity with managed soil inputs. It also investigates the possibility of farmers to repeatedly request soil testing services as a result of improved farming practices and higher return on investment.

Creating employment opportunities

Additionally, the project seeks to create employment in agribusiness services through facilitating soil testing service business models. The project wants to enable private partners and counties (with regard to their youth employment initiative and GIZ youth interventions) to establish successful agribusiness ventures with soil service sensor technology.