Agriculture stockists in Rift Valley to benefit from new financial model

Agricultural stockists across Rift Valley and Central Kenya are set to benefit from a new financing model.

The model is aimed at easing long-standing cash flow challenges in the farm input supply chain.

The initiative, led by Avenews Agri-Fintech in partnership with Grebe Enterprises Limited, is designed to give agro-traders access to instant credit at the point of purchase, removing the need for upfront payments or lengthy loan approval processes.

Stockists play a crucial role in Kenya’s agriculture sector, acting as the primary channel through which farmers access seeds, fertilisers and other essential inputs.

However, many have long struggled with limited working capital, especially during peak planting seasons when demand spikes.

Under the new model, stockists will order inputs directly from Grebe Enterprises and receive financing instantly through Avenews.

Repayment will then be made after the stockists sell the inputs to farmers, aligning credit with actual trade cycles.

Avenews Kenya business development director Emanuel Murai said the system is built around embedding finance into existing supply chains rather than relying on traditional lending structures.

“A stockist will be ordering agro-inputs from Grebe, receive the supplies without upfront payment and will be required to repay Avenews after selling the inputs to farmers,” he said during the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Nakuru.

Murai said the model is intended to close the gap between demand and liquidity, a challenge that often forces stockists to miss critical selling windows.

He added that the system links financing directly to the movement of goods—from supplier invoice to delivery and eventual sale—allowing traders to restock faster and operate more efficiently in a market driven by seasonal demand and thin margins.

Grebe Enterprises general manager Dunson Kamau noted that delayed access to working capital has been one of the biggest constraints facing agro-traders.

He said the partnership would help stockists grow their businesses without being held back by cash flow cycles, adding that a pilot phase of the project had already shown promising results.

The rollout will initially focus on Nakuru and the wider Rift Valley region, where Grebe already has an established distribution network, before expanding into parts of Central Kenya.

For many small agro-dealers, the model represents a shift from traditional credit systems to a more responsive, trade-linked financing approach that could reshape how farm inputs move from suppliers to rural markets.