Aldi UK has become the first UK supermarket to team up with international development charity Farm Africa, in a three-year partnership to support young farmers in Kenya.
The supermarket has pledged to donate £260,000 to fund Growing Futures, a project to educate young people in sustainable agriculture, which is being run by Farm Africa in Kitale, Western Kenya.
Aldi and Farm Africa are joining forces to improve the lives of more than 400 out-of-school young people by helping them to grow and sell more crops, and to sell their produce for more money, so they can earn a decent income and build sustainable businesses.
In doing so, the project aims to enable young people to escape the cycle of poverty by empowering them to create more commercially viable livelihoods for themselves through agriculture and become business leaders in their communities.
Oliver King, Corporate Managing Director at Aldi UK explains, “By supporting young people in rural areas to increase harvests and create better incomes for themselves, Growing Futures will not only play its part in eradicating extreme poverty in Kitale, it will help young people build for the future.
“The project will encourage young people to become job creators rather than job-seekers, turning them into drivers of economic growth and reducing their communities’ dependence on aid.”
Farm Africa works with small-scale farmers, government and private sector organisations across Africa to boost food production, creating more sustainable and commercial farming that builds rural incomes and sustains natural resources. This involves applying a practical approaches to development by providing inputs, tools and expertise to enable farmers to double or triple their yields.
Nicolas Mounard, Chief Executive of Farm Africa says, “This partnership will help us give young farmers in Kenya the vital support they need to grow themselves out of poverty.
“As well as assisting young farmers to vastly improve the quality and amount of food they produce, this project will help ensure they are growing the most valuable crops, support them in finding the best contracts, and enable them to sell their crops at higher value markets so they can find a lasting way out of poverty.”
Farm Africa’s focus on sustainable food production makes the charity a great fit for businesses involved in the global food and hospitality industry. Nick Milne, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Farm Africa explains, “A partnership with a charity enables a corporate partner from the food industry to build more of an emotional connection with their customers, provides a cause to unite their employees behind and can also act as a point of differentiation to their competitors in what is a highly competitive market.”
“For the charity, as well as providing much needed funding, it enables them to raise the profile of their work to a new audience and gives them a unique opportunity to learn from the experience and expertise of the private sector partner.’’
Farm Africa is a leading international development charity that reduces poverty by unleashing the ability of farmers across eastern Africa to grow more, sell more and sell for more.
Farm Africa helps farmers to become more resilient to the effects of climate change and to access markets so they can increase their income and build sustainable businesses.
We work closely with communities, the private sector and governments to make sure we’re finding the most effective ways to sustain natural resources, increase food production and help end Africa’s need for aid.
Typically, Farm Africa’s staff are from the local area, can speak the local language, and have a deep understanding of the local context. With more than 30 years’ experience working on the ground in rural Africa, we have a unique ability to spark change.
For more information please visit www.farmafrica.org or follow us on Twitter @FarmAfrica.
