- Eight Saccos receive fresh support to ease access to farm credit
- Digital systems bring new accountability demands for Sacco officials
- Siaya plans a countywide union to strengthen agricultural cooperatives
Eight agricultural Saccos in Siaya County have received Ksh9.9 million meant to make it easier for smallholders to borrow for their farming work.
The money was handed over by the Siaya County Government under Governor James Orengo, working with the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP). It will flow through the societies to farmers in all 30 wards across the county’s six sub-counties.
NAVCDP Siaya Coordinator Vincent Okoth said the initiative responds to the hurdles growers face when they seek loans for agricultural activities. He explained that the aim is to strengthen farmers’ creditworthiness so that lenders become more willing to back their ventures.
To prepare the societies, officials trained them in financial management and upgraded their administrative systems. Several received computers and printers, while bookkeepers were recruited to keep their records in order.
As the Saccos move to digital systems, County Director of Cooperatives Samuel Wambisa cautioned those handling the money against sharing their login details. He compared the setup to a bank strongroom, where two people hold separate keys so that nobody can open it alone. Under the new automated system, he said, bookkeepers and treasurers receive different credentials for the same reason.
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Sharing a password, he added, amounts to surrendering access. The person responsible would be held personally liable if money went missing.
Siaya Agriculture County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Willis Osoyo said Sacco leaders and members have also been trained in governance, financial management and credit handling. He further disclosed plans to form a County Sacco Union that would bring together the 30 cooperatives and Saccos taking part in the programme.
Osoyo noted that NAVCDP will not stay in the county indefinitely. A union, he said, would keep the societies going by speaking for them, building networks and attracting funding from outside.
He added that the body would also stand up for farmers’ rights and help set up aggregation centres where produce is pooled before sale. The goal, according to Osoyo, is to get produce directly to market so that farmers earn better prices, pay school fees, afford healthcare and improve their livelihoods.
By Benedict Aoya
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