Vermi-Farm Initiative

We use earthworms to turn food waste into organic fertilizers, improving the local environment and public health, increasing food production while creating job opportunities for the youth and women.

1. Food Waste Management:

In Kenya, there has been an exponential increase in food waste, whose value if recycled is estimated to be at least USD 720 million. Unfortunately, due to poor and unsustainable management systems, at least 80% of the food waste produced finds its way to open landfills. Food waste in landfills produces methane, which is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases globally.

However, by managing the waste through the Vermi-Farm Initiative process, we convert this food waste into a highly nutritious fertilizer. The Vermi-Farm Initiative ensures circular flow and sustainable resource use by reintroducing inputs back into the ecosystem. The process also reduces methane emissions by up to 47%.

2. Farm inputs:

Fertilizer is imported into Kenya. Sadly, the Russia-Ukraine war and countries closing their borders during COVID-19 disrupted supply chain systems, driving up the cost of agricultural inputs including fertilizers to an all-time high. The foliar and bio-fertilizers produced and supplied by the Vermi-Farm Initiative are three times more affordable, environmentally friendly, and highly nutritious. This provides reliability and availability for smallholder farmers, who heavily rely on the government's importation of fertilizers for food production.

Our products are three times more affordable compared to market alternatives, as the high cost of inputs is a major challenge to most small-scale farmers. From market research, we found that farmers spend 70–80% of their revenue on the purchase of farm inputs, and at the end of the season, 96% of them don’t break even.

3. Food insecurity and climate change mitigation and adaptation:

Farmers in Kenya have been largely affected by the impacts of climate change. There has been no rain for the last three seasons consecutively, and therefore, very few farmers could produce more than a surplus to even share with neighbors. It has resulted in more than 4.1 million Kenyans facing food insecurity. Furthermore, the government has not recently provided fertilizer subsidies, and the price of fertilizer is prohibitively expensive for most farmers. Farmers have been forced to plant without the use of inputs on the already degraded soils, resulting in low crop yields both in quality and quantity. 

Besides the affordability of our products, they are full of beneficial microorganisms and lower soil acidity, whereas synthetic fertilizers kill both microorganisms and degrade soils with every application. Additionally, they reduce the time of growth of plants by 10–25% due to the already broken-down nutrients for easier absorption by plants. Through this, we aim to empower farmers to not only produce safe, healthy, and nutritious food but also to reduce production time while increasing both quality and quantity. This will help in meeting the growing demand for healthy food by the ever-growing population, thereby reducing food insecurity challenges.

The Vermi-Farm Initiative recycles food waste by utilizing vermicomposting biotechnology to create affordable, highly nutritious, and environmentally friendly foliar and biofertilizers. We collect food waste from Kware and Rongai market centers, take it to Kandisi where we have established a vermicomposting plant, do the sorting of waste, pre-compost for two weeks, and feed the earthworms. They feed on this waste and produce vermicast in the form of worm poop. We also do value addition by adding biochar, a charcoal-like component made out of agricultural waste.

Vermicompost and biochar are the main components of our solution. They transform agricultural waste into products that return carbon to the soil. When agricultural waste is used to make biochar, the carbon in those materials is locked in, thus preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. Converting agricultural residues to biochar prevents the release of millions of tons of carbon dioxide.

When organic waste is sent to a landfill, it produces greenhouse gas emissions like methane, which is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the near term. The Vermi-Farm Initiative diverts this food and other organic waste from the landfill by turning it into vermicompost. That significantly reduces these emissions, especially methane. Additionally, applying vermicompost as a soil amendment improves soil health and strengthens its microbiome, which increases the soil’s ability to store carbon. Vermicompost and biochar in our products also build resilience to climate change on farms and ranches. This is because they help in improving the water-holding capacity and filtration of soil to better withstand droughts, heat waves, and heavy rains, all of which are becoming more severe and frequent due to climate change. Additionally, biochar and compost improve overall soil health and biodiversity, resulting in healthier crops that are more resistant to disease and pests.

The Vermi-Farm Initiative serves farmers, especially small-scale farmers. This is done by providing them with an affordable, sustainable, organic, eco-friendly, and locally sourced alternative to the contemporary inputs on the market.

In Kenya, we have more than 1.4 million small-scale farmers. They are highly dependent on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to maintain and boost crop production. In a bid to increase productivity, they encounter losses due to the high cost of farm inputs and the low quality and quantity of produce. Chemical inputs degrade soils and decrease plant quality with every application.

Our innovation reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Finished vermicompost is a natural fertilizer that returns valuable nutrients to the soil, promoting the growth of healthy plants. The solution increases micronutrients, macronutrients, and microbial activities in the soil, giving it good health. It adds organic matter, aids soil absorption and retention of water, breaks clay soils, and improves soil structure, aeration, pH, electrical conductivity, and soil fertility. 

We have an impact on farmers' lives in the following ways:

1. Affordable inputs:

The government of Kenya imported more than half a million tons of fertilizer in the first half of 2022. Due to the long supply chain system in distribution and lack of subsidies, fertilizers get to the farmer at very high prices. In other words, we produce more than a million tons of waste annually as a country, which offers us an opportunity to meet this challenge.

By substituting these chemical fertilizers with a low-cost but higher-nutritional alternative, the cost of farm inputs will be relatively affordable compared to contemporary alternatives on the market. This will assist farmers in producing high-quality and quantity products at a low cost, increasing profit margins, and even breaking even.

2. Eco-friendly and highly nutritious inputs:

Kenya's soil has declined in productivity, and this is due to the inorganic inputs used on the soil, such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. They kill the beneficial microorganisms in the soils, and thus the soils are heavily reliant on inorganic farm inputs.

We invest in rehabilitating soil fertility and quality by introducing fertilizers richer than artificial fertilizers in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic carbon, ammonium nitrate, ash, and microbes that are good for oil health, thus improving yields. The research we conducted shows that cabbages grown using our fertilizer weigh three times more than those grown using chemical fertilizers. Additionally, the research also showed that it reduces the time of growth of kale, Irish potatoes, and chilies by 10–25%, strengthening our competitive advantage.

3. A Profile of Food Waste Management Sustainability:

The Vermi-Farm Initiative also serves Kware and Rongai Market Centers, restaurants, hotels, and two schools within Rongai because we help them manage waste and increase their sustainability profile.

Diana Wairimu Njuguna, Co-Founder and Head of Production, graduate of EARTH University in Costa Rica holds Bachelor in Agricultural Science and Resource Management with a strong passion for fieldwork, research, and giving back to society. Currently, she is carrying out a graduation project about biological alternatives to control Meloidogyne incognita in tomato plants. She is also working on projects such as composting organic food waste from the university and also vermicomposting. In soil science, she has experience with organomineral fertilizer pellets.

Prince King’ori has a law degree and assists us in legal matters about the venture. Through his support, we have been able to successfully register the venture, legally lease the land for the establishment of a vermicomposting plant, and finally, oversee the formal and legal recruitment of our contracted staff members. Currently, we are working on intellectual property by trademarking and patenting the Vermi-Farm Initiative.

Eliud Mwaniki our Operations Manager, is a young leader, a crop protection expert, and an experienced researcher with a demonstrated history of working on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of Irish potatoes, cabbage, sweet potatoes, maize, cassava, sugarcane, and fruits and vegetables in Kenya. He is a consultant who has partnered with research institutions like Karen Agricultural Research Institute, reputable organizations, corporates, and county governments in the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 1-No Poverty, SDG 2-Zero Hunger, SDG 4-Quality Education, SDG 8-Decent Work, and Economic Growth, SDG 11-Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12-Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 13-Climate Action

Prof. Luis Glenn, a professor at EARTH University, is our project advisor and consultant. He has a master's degree in Environmental Engineering Sciences from the University of Florida and a professional master’s degree in Project Management from Universidad Interamericana, now Universidad Latina de Costa Rica. He helped us design both our vermicomposting plant and the products. We are currently working on product development with his support.

We have a guide, Jie Zhao from The Resolution Project. Jie is an interdisciplinary innovator, team leader, researcher, and life-long learner. Rich experience in research, product, management, and partnership in health, wellness, and real estate technology markets. Knowledge and skills in data mining, user experience, human behavior, building science, neuroscience, health, and wellness. Expert in Human-Building Interaction and healthy buildings.

I am the other Co-Founder and Head of Programs. I have a background in Computer Science, with technical skills and experience in business development and social entrepreneurship. I am in charge of the farm's day-to-day operations. I am also involved in supervising the production process. I am also responsible for delivering the product to customers and account keeping. I am the point of contact between the venture and all stakeholders 

Our team is diverse, with over 4 different nationalities, this encourages collaboration and improves our exchange of ideas. Through various skills and experiences from this diverse team, we complement each other and that is what has built us to date.

We conducted research in December 2019. This was to help us understand the cost, amount, and quality of food production in urban and rural areas of Kenya. We managed to do this across five counties: Nairobi, Nyeri, Meru, Eldoret, and Kajiado. This research helped us identify customer pain points and helped refine our value proposition in terms of the gains we can provide. Through this research, we found that the high cost of inputs is a major challenge, as farmers spend 70–80% of their revenue on the purchase of farm inputs. We also got to understand that only two people in a group of five get to break even.

We met with the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) to find out which inputs farmers prefer and why. We found that there is an unmet need for organic pesticides and bio-fertilizer. This also helped us discuss the possibility of establishing a distribution channel with the association once our products are commercialized.

In addition, the research also indicated that 22% of food in rural areas is purchased while 78% is home-produced. In an urban setting, 2% is self-produced while 98% is purchased. This means that if rural areas cannot produce enough food for themselves and those of urban areas, the whole country goes on a hunger strike. From this, we thought of a way we could promote urban farming while simultaneously reducing the cost of food production in rural areas and increasing crop production.

In addition, we conducted another survey last year before launching the venture. We found that supply chain disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic prevented farmers from accessing key inputs they needed for production and therefore reduced their yield from production.

We also visited an upcycling plant, Taka Taka Solutions, based in Nairobi, where they walked us through their process from collection to composting of the waste. This helped us gain a new understanding of the logistics process and the shortfalls of composting, such as the high emissions and the fact that composting takes almost four months to compost, while our process takes 15 days and if mechanized, we can reduce this time by half. With the support of Prof. Luis Glenn from Earth University in Costa Rica, we came up with our solution to leverage vermicomposting biotechnology. This not only helps us promote food security in Kenya but also helps us address the challenges of climate change and environmental pollution.

We participated in a 3-day training workshop held by the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service in December (KEPHIS). This parastatal of the Kenyan government is responsible for ensuring the quality of agricultural inputs and products to prevent negative effects on the country's economy, environment, and public health. Discussions focused on soil fertility, plant nutrition (principles, deficiencies, and toxicities), and environmental factors in the usage of pesticides and fertilizers. This resulted in the assurance of our timely solution and product to Kenyan farmers, as well as government support through regulations and frameworks to ensure food security in the country.

The Vermi-Farm Initiative capitalizes on food waste from market centers, schools, hotels, and restaurants to produce our products. This complies with sustainable and holistic waste management, unlike the approach adopted by already existing companies that collect waste and go to dump it at the already-filled Dandora dumpsite. Due to the low cost of production as well as the availability of readily available raw materials, Vermi-Farm Initiative can produce, manage, and supply affordable and highly nutritious organic fertilizer.

The addition of biochar helps mitigate the impacts of climate change. This is because biochar supports carbon sequestration by absorbing the carbon in the atmosphere into the soil. This helps in reducing global warming.

Our Vermi-Farm Initiative products are three times cheaper due to our low cost of operation because of readily available raw materials. This means that many small-scale farmers can easily afford them, thereby lowering their cost of production. Due to guaranteed high quality, increased quantity, and better prices, especially for organically produced food, farmers can increase their profit margins and get to break even, which has been the greatest issue for many.

In addition, our products neutralize the soil pH, lowering electrical conductivity and improving microbial life, which gives soil health and thus increases soil fertility for food production.

The Vermi-Farm Initiative looks forward to serving 50,000 farmers from the current 441 in five years, by providing them with an affordable, sustainable, and locally sourced alternative to the synthetic inputs on the market. The initiative also aims to boost the resilience of farmers through reformative agricultural practices to improve food security. We have the Vermi-Farm Solutions Program, which is aimed at promoting social inclusion and urban regeneration alongside promoting food security. The program works with farmers’ groups and schools to help them grow their food and eat a reliable and nutritious diet through advisory support. In addition, we use the program to advocate for the development of high-quality food production and share knowledge to improve community understanding of the links between health and nutrition.

• We hope to recycle at least 25 tons of food waste from Kware and Rongai markets every two weeks. From this, we can produce half the amount of bio-fertilizer and at least 5 tons of foliar. This will be enough to support at least 1,500 small-scale farmers who are on our waiting list, awaiting to be on-boarded once we commercialize. We anticipate supporting 5,000 small-scale farmers by the end of December 2023.

• We currently recycle 12 tons of food waste every two weeks. Daily marketplaces in Kware and Rongai produce at least 4 tons of food waste per day. Therefore, to meet our customers' demands and keep up with the rate at which garbage is produced in these two areas, we must grow our production capacity. Only approximately 10% of the acreage we leased is taken up by the 48 production beds we now have, which take 12 tons of waste every two weeks. By increasing it to roughly 100 production beds, we will be able to recycle at least 25 tons every two weeks. This ensures that we will be able to manage the waste generation rate and the high demand from institutions over a short period. As a result, we will be strengthened to scale our business model, boost our supply chain, grow our production plant, and sustain our resources to pay our waste collectors and sorters a credible and consistent living wage through fair and ethical pricing, bolstering our position as the market leader in Kenya's food waste management industry.

• The Vermi-Farm Initiative also seeks to automate the production process in the next year to reduce the time and cost incurred in the preparation of raw materials and setting up production. Currently, the production process is time-consuming as it is manually done, which means more time is required to sort waste and supervise the decomposition process. It takes 15 days to pre-compost the food waste before it is fed to the earthworms. If we had a dewatering machine, within 3 days the waste could be ready for feeding. If we had fully mechanized the production process, we could increase the  rate, to half of the current time of 15 days.

• We also hope to keep emission reductions lower by 43% as compared to ordinary composting. This will be done by the use of earthworms as they feed on the food waste and by the fact that they turn the food waste streams into residue in one week as compared to 3 to 4 months when composting.

• The Vermi-Farm Initiative has interviewed potential customers, and we are maintaining a database of those who are willing to try out the products once mass production begins. We have also identified distribution channels for the products upon commercialization. Through this, we look forward to supporting at least 5,000 farmers and, therefore, impacting 5,000 households. This will be through the network of farmers we have created since the inception of the Vermi-Farm Initiative. We have Azima Foods, Toothpick Kenya, Rafiki Pay, and Kilimo Sasa Initiative all have at least a group of 300 aggregated farmers who have expressed interest in utilizing our products after successful product testing with a number of their farmers.

• The Vermi-Farm Solutions Program has helped us recognize that smallholder farmers need more than just an affordable source of fertilizer. We have chosen to establish a Vermi-Farm AgriHub.  In Meru, a prototype will be created. This is a one-stop shop for affordable eco eco-friendly inputs, farm machinery, financial support, and reliable extension services. Currently, we produce and provide farmers with fertilizers. We are now able to provide digital soil testing services as a result of our partnership with Kilimo Guru. We've already identified FarmerLife Line and Limachain as potential partners who can provide integrated services for managing pests, diseases, and water resources to increase agricultural resilience to climate change. We will employ two agronomists to assist us in offering extension services. Once the Hustler Fund, a government initiative to promote financial inclusion, is officially launched in May 2023, we will apply for funding through it.

• To adapt to the effects of climate change and promote resilience, we will advocate for climate-smart agriculture through the hub together with the diversification of farming systems. The sustainability and growth of this project will depend on the farmers' ability to successfully embrace climate-smart agriculture technologies. Facilitating access to finance is essential for helping rural farmers acquire services and inputs as well as for their growth in the economy. In partnership with a Meru microfinance bank, we will create green finance facilities and provide technical assistance. This will be covered by the inclusion funding that we will apply for from the Kenyan government.

The Vermi-Farm Initiative produces solid vermicompost and liquid foliar fertilizers by processing organic waste through 100% natural mechanisms. The fertilizers compete favorably against any other fertilizer as they add soil nutrition and fertility within a short period. The products maintain long-term soil quality, which improves crop performance compared to synthetic fertilizers and other organic fertilizers.

We are leveraging traditional, natural biotechnology to combat the exponential increase in food waste and provide highly-nutritious, affordable, and eco-friendly fertilizers to farmers. We collect food waste from the market centers, do the sorting and pre-composting for two weeks to eliminate physical, chemical, and biological hazards, and then feed the earthworms. They then consume this waste and break it down into highly nutritious bio-fertilizers rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and ash.

The production process reduces greenhouse gas emissions, especially methane and carbon, through value-added biochar into the atmosphere by 47%. The process ensures sustainable, effective, and efficient production and consumption while advancing life on land, life underwater, and climate action.

With the current production capacity, Vermi-Farm Initiative can produce 6 tons of bio-fertilizer and 1,500 liters of folio fertilizer every month. We targeted small-scale farmers and the high-end market in urban areas, which included urban farmers and peri-urban farmers within the Nairobi metropolitan area. At least 3% of the Nairobi metropolitan population of over 3 million people practices urban farming. The largest number practice small-scale subsistence farming. This is the group that needs organic and affordable fertilizers. Despite targeting small-scale farmers, production at the early stages of the Vermi-Farm Initiative has limited us to focus on the high-end market.

80% of the sales we have made are through our online marketing presence. Most urban residents and a few in peri-urban Kenya have access to the internet and social media. Our main marketing strategy has been through social media. These initial customers have also facilitated referrals for the remaining 20% of our sales. We are using word of mouth to promote our products by ensuring that our first customers experience quality products.

Nevertheless, we made our products available for product testing to a few farmers in peri-urban and rural areas like Meru, Kerugoya, Kajiado, and Eldoret, but only through identified farmers’ groups. Groups are the channels we look forward to capitalizing on in a bid to lower our cost of operations, especially on transport logistics once we commercialize. Fortunately, we had 4 groups of farmers, each with at least 300 farmers, who expressed interest in using our products upon commercialization. This gives us a total of 5,127 farmers whom we can sustainably serve within the next year.

With adequate financial and resource support, we can reach at least 10,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya by December 2023.

1. Financial challenge:

• We need to invest in production mechanization to increase our production efficiency to meet the demand levels. These include a dewatering machine, an organic waste chaff cutter, a grading machine, and other tools and equipment required to ensure the success of the Vermi-Farm Initiative.

• We also need resources to increase the scale of our production site. We currently have 48 beds in our production center, which occupies only 10% of the space. To fully meet the scale of demand and supply of raw materials, we need to operate with at least 100 beds.

2. Logistics challenge

• The cost of transporting waste from either Kware or Rongai market to our vermicomposting plant at Kandisi is high. This makes it difficult to transport the inputs that are needed for production. We look forward to purchasing a truck within the next five years to help us sustain our transport of raw materials logistics.

3. Legal Challenge

• After the first six months of successfully developing a prototype of the Vermi-Farm Initiative between January and July, we are required to acquire several licenses from both the County Government of Kajiado and the National Government through various departments of state. This includes the trading permit from the County Government, the Environment Impact Assessment License, the National Environment Management Authority License, and other certifications from the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute.

• Obtaining all these documents for a venture that is at an early stage with limited funding in Kenya is quite costly. However, we are working to ensure we comply with the set regulations and policies so that we can speed up commercialization.

We can provide digital soil testing services as a result of our partnership with Kilimo Guru. 

We've already identified FarmerLife Line and Limachain as potential partners who can provide integrated services for managing pests, diseases, and water resources to increase agricultural resilience to climate change. We anticipate starting to work on agreements in March 2023.

1. The Vermi-Farm Initiative's key activities include the construction of facilities like worm bedding. This is where the production process takes place. We also have to constantly ensure that the population of worms increases to sustain the production process. This requires regular monitoring of temperature, pH, and constant moisturizing of the bedding.

2. Our key resources are capital investments to support us in increasing the capacity of production and mechanizing the venture. Our raw material, which is food waste, is readily available from the local market centers. Worms and worm bedding are the main resources because, without these, production cannot take place. We have a farm manager and are currently working on our trademark and patent for the intellectual property of the venture.

3. Through this, we can come up with competitive products for farmers. The value proposition of our products is:

• They are highly nutritious due to their high concentration of micro and macronutrients compared to chemical fertilizers and other products available as alternatives, like manure.
• Products from the Vermi-Farm Initiative increase the rate of crop growth and maturity by 10–25%. This is attributed to the high absorption rate of nutrients that are already broken down for use by plants. Chemical fertilizer nutrients take time to be broken down into a form that can be easily absorbed by the plant.
• They are eco-friendly and thus neither degrade soils on every application nor kill beneficial microorganisms living in soils like synthetic fertilizers.
• Our products are very affordable for the farmer; they are three times cheaper than synthetic fertilizers. This is because our cost of production is very low as a result of the readily available raw materials that we locally source.
• Consequently, this helps the farmer lower the cost of crop production by at least 17% while increasing the profit margins by up to 47% due to better quality and quantity of products after the use of vermicompost and vermiliquid from the Vermi-Farm Initiative.

4. Farmers learn about our products through social media, particularly those in areas with internet access. We are available on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and are currently developing a website to help us leverage digital marketing. We have five product movers who act as community agents. They create content about our products and, as a result, create awareness among the general public about the organic and folio fertilizers produced by Vermi-Farm Initiative. Additionally, since we do door-to-door delivery at the moment, they also help us in ensuring our products get to the customers. Upon commercializing, we look forward to reaching out to various contracted farmers’ groups, cooperatives, and retailers for partnerships for easier accessibility of our inputs to the end users.

5. Initial customers have mostly come from urban areas during product testing, with a few from rural and peri-urban areas. However, our dream is to support small-scale farmers. Upon commercializing, we target different customer segments, which include:

• Gardners:
  • Organic farmers
  • Urban farmers
• Small-scale farmers, both in peri-urban and rural areas.
• High-end market:
  • Landscaping agencies
  • Institutions like schools
  • Indoor plant growers
  • Large-scale farmers

 6. There are key partnerships we have built on and are looking forward to consolidating. These include:

• Fertilizer distributors: These are the retail shops, our product movers—we currently have five—and also our other employees. It is through them that the Vermi-Farm Initiative is connected to the farmers.
• Investors: The Vermi-Farm Initiative was an award-winning idea during the Social Venture Challenge by The Resolution Project at the 2021 Baobab Summit by the Mastercard Foundation. We won grant seed funding that helped us to incorporate as Vermi-Farm Initiative LTD, lease land where our operation would take place, put up a vermicomposting plant, come up with a minimum viable product, and do product testing. We received additional funding from the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre, as proof-of-concept grant financing. This helped us purchase a food waste shredder, increase production capacity from 6 worm beds to 48 and get some additional tools and equipment. The venture will require significant capital investment to fully commercialize. Therefore, we will seek additional investors to help us grow and develop to serve and meet the growing demand.
• Authorities: The Vermi-Farm Initiative is building on existing systems to sustain the operations and have an enabling environment. These include the county government, National Environment Management Authority, Ministries of Environment and Agriculture, and existing embassies like the embassy of the United States of America and the Danish Embassy that support ventures aligned with our thematic areas of climate change, agriculture, and environment.

7. The Vermi-Farm Initiative generates revenues by selling both folio and bio-fertilizers. The bio-fertilizer that is in the form of fine granules is packed in 5 kg, 10 kg, 25 kg, and 50 kg bags. For the folio fertilizer that is in liquid form, we package it in 2L, 5L, 10L, and 20L containers.

8. The Vermi-Farm Initiative’s main competitive strengths are:

• Proven products that have been tested by the target market and are well received.
• We are a young team of experienced founders who have skills and relevant knowledge in our area of operations.
• The venture has superior products compared to other players in the market.

We have invested in marketing the product to expand the customer base. We have four sales ladies who are our product movers. They create content about our products. By use of creative ways, we can get customers using digital marketing. This was very instrumental during the product testing stage, back in march. We pay them on commission depending on the products sold.

Through training and workshop that the Vermi-Farm Solutions Program conduct in partnership with other stakeholders like the Kilimo Guru, we expand the customer base by creating awareness about our products. Being a new product that is being introduced in the Kenyan market, awareness through education has been key to bridging the knowledge gap.

We have also sustained our customer base through referrals. To encourage this, we have identified key farmers who help us with this. In return when they come to purchase, we offer them our products at a discounted price. On revenues, our cost of production annually is expected to be Kenya shillings (Kes) 636,000. If we sold only 2000 units of 5-liter liquid product and 1000 units of 5 kg solid product, we would generate Kes 1,000,000 and Kes 225,000, respectively, totaling Kes 1,225,000. Our profit would be KES 589,000, or 48% profit.

Through the establishment of the Vermi-Farm AgriHub, the project's primary goal is to increase smallholder farmers' ability to withstand the consequences of climate change through the adoption of tried-and-true new technologies and practices. This will help to decrease food insecurity, malnutrition, and undernutrition. More precisely, the project will: establish farmers' access to green financing for climate adaptation and resilient agricultural enterprise development; support knowledge sharing, policy and strategy creation, and the sustainability of technological innovations; support farmers' diversification and climate-resilient food production systems using low-cost and innovative technologies.

We shall formally incorporate the group of various members we shall be supporting. We have proposed a table-banking structure whereby, members will be able to make affordable monthly savings and borrowing at an affordable. A percentage will go to supporting the venture.

We are eager to put up a sweet potato and banana value-addition facility to prevent postharvest losses, advance food security, and lessen occurrences of malnutrition and undernutrition. We will give farmers the tools they need to make cakes, bread, donuts, crisps, and bio-fertilizers from these crops. To support our projects, we suggest that 10% of the annual revenues go to AgriHub in form of royalties.

For new, small, and medium-sized firms producing climate change technologies, initiatives like the Kenya Climate Innovation Center offer incubation, capacity building through training and workshops, and finance options. This is a top-notch resource center that the project's beneficiaries as well as the project itself can fully utilize to grow and sustain the project.

Through green financing, we aim to promote financial inclusion, especially for underserved communities. Through different insurance schemes

We are currently developing a prototype of a smart waste management system to assure a long-term waste collection mechanism.  The system uses artificial intelligence and the internet of things is used to communicate. It will have sensors, a scanner that customers can use to scan cards as they use it, solar power, and GPS for simpler tracking. This will increase efficiency while lowering the cost and time of waste collection operations. In September 2023, we anticipate conducting a pilot test at the Kware and Rongai Market centers.