Building Resilience of Farmers Through Warehouse Receipt System in Kenya

The partnership between agriBORA and Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT is introducing a Warehouse Receipt System (WRS), in climate-vulnerable regions in Kenya, that allows farmers to store their produce in climate-controlled warehouses and sell them at favorable market prices, thereby strengthening income stability and reducing post-harvest losses. The WRS, dubbed 'agriGHALA', will couple beneficial services to farmers such as financial inclusion, access to high-quality agricultural inputs, training on climate-smart practices and market linkages. Overall, it is anticipated that post-harvest loss reduction will reduce farming's carbon footprint through optimizing production.   

• Establish and operationalize a Warehouse Receipt System (WRS): Set up and manage a functional WRS in Kisumu  and Eldoret to provide secure storage, minimize post-harvest losses, and maintain the quality of agricultural produce 
• Conduct awareness campaigns: Build trust and promote adoption of the WRS among smallholder farmers and aggregators through targeted outreach on post-harvest management practices and the benefits of warehouse-based commodity deposits
• Facilitate access to commodity-backed financing: Link smallholder farmers to financial institutions offering credit products secured by stored commodities, thereby promoting financial inclusion and improving market access
• Develop and disseminate a case study: Document the implementation process of the WRS capturing best practices, challenges, and outcomes; share lessons learned to guide replication and scaling of localized storage and financial service models for smallholder farmers. 

Other Project Leader: Kizito Odhiambo, Founder & CEO agriBORA  ([email protected])