More often than not, agricultural conferences tend to focus on issues such as export, yields, crop husbandry and crop protection, but if a several-week long Naivasha conference that culminated on June 13, 2017 is anything to go by, there is more than meets the eye as the focus of the training was passing on communication skills to farmers.

Reaching out to agricultural stakeholders and experts to train on verbal and written skills, the training sessions focused on matters pertaining to communicating with farmers, buyers and others to improve their ways of liaising in the farm and market.

The main areas from which the 15 people taking part in the training represented ranged from horticulture to vet services to aquaculture, floriculture and many more. A common denominator between the trainees is that this was not the first time they were attending such a conference for before this they had underwent the Standards and Market Access Program, common as Smap. The program’s country co-ordinator, Christine Misiko commented on the sidelines of the conference to the effect that the program would help disseminate the knowledge and skills to the participants in such a clear-cut way that the latter would “effectively pass the same information to the targeted beneficiaries,” namely farmers.

The reason for the training is to enhance the participants’ abilities to train family growers in their respective areas, be it in crop husbandry or dairy services, through the right communication methods. The focus, is not just the spoken word but also body language and gestural demonstrations to help such a trainer to leave a higher impact.

Major Participants

The training team was led by Dr. Wolfgang Hackl, an acknowledged trainer of Austrian background.

The Kenyan delegation was courtesy of the representation of Fresh Produce Exporters Association. An official attending the training remarked on how the workshop has improved her personal coercion skills.

The European Union is the main sponsor of this communication workshop with an aim to up the standards of growing markets in such fields as general farming, aquaculture, apiculture, and the dairy niche of livestock rearing. According to the EU, the program, which lasted for several weeks would eventually help pass on relevant information to the target, mainly unskilled farmers who could use it for ages.

Other Benefits in Key Kenya Agricultural Belts

Even as the communication workshop went on, it is remarkable that SMAP has, in the recent past, also helped overcome the scourge of mango pests in Central Rift through quarantine control methods against fruit flies. It also aided, through negotiations, to reduce the strict sampling controls that have been making French bean exports across the European Union difficult for local farmers.

The Standards and Market Access Program has been performing tasks through the guidance of the United Nations’ arm on industrialization, as well as the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KePHIS) and the country’s watchdog on standards, the Kenya Bureau of Standards.