NAKURU, Kenya – CFAO Mobility Kenya Limited, through the Toyota Kenya Foundation, has partnered with the First Lady, Mama Rachel Ruto, to train women and youth with tractor operations, agribusiness, and leadership skills in 12 counties in 2025.
In a statement, the Office of the First Lady said the Nakuru County edition was concluded today, Friday, January 31, 2025, at the Nakuru Agricultural Training Centre, where 150 women and youth were trained and certified.
“Despite Africa having the most unutilised agricultural potential in the world, we have a considerably low level of mechanisation compared to the rest of the world,” the statement reads in part.
Why mechanisation is important in the agriculture sector
Currently, between 50 and 85% of farm work is done manually, using hand tools.
“Mechanisation therefore is a key agenda in the success of agriculture, especially in achieving the desired productivity as envisioned in the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA),” the statement further reads.
Leonard Bor, the Nakuru County Executive Committee member in charge of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Cooperatives County, lauded the partnership as one that will boost the number of qualified agricultural talent pools in the county.
Arnold Kipchumba, the Director of Environment and Climate Action at Mama Doing Good, highlighted the training as one that recognises the critical labour that women and youth provide in the agricultural sector and the need for knowledge-driven agricultural productivity in the nation.
How are the programmes under Mama Doing Good structured
Mama Doing Good programmes are structured around three strategic pillars: women’s economic empowerment, environment and climate action, and Mercy Works and youth empowerment.
The Women Economic Empowerment Directorate empowers women economically through access to affordable credit, knowledge, skills development, market access, and linkages.
Kenya’s economic growth potential can be enhanced by enabling women to contribute more fully and effectively to the country’s economy.
Its goal under this pillar is to build a movement of dignified women who are economically and socially transformed. Our work under this strategic pillar entails: financial inclusion and financial health, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and credit, capacity building and livelihoods, and finally trade and market access.
