By Joshua Kato
For the last year, people including farmers have been receiving funds under the Parish Development Model (PDM).
Each of them receives sh1m and invests it in an enterprise of their choice. PDM was billed as a possible game-changer in the agriculture sector.
Indeed, many people have invested in agriculture, including crops, livestock and even in value addition.
However, a random survey indicates that there is no cohesion in the buy-in of these products.
For example, in a parish with 100 beneficiaries, it would have been more beneficial if they engaged in the same/ common activity in order to benefit from the economies of scale.
If, for example, the 100 farmers invested the money in poultry or piggery, this would create a cluster of production, knowledge sharing and easy marketability.
However, it has been established that each of the farmers is engaging in different activities.
While one buys coffee seedlings, another buys a cow or pig while some plant beans. At the end of the day, each will produce something. But in isolation!
There is no knowledge sharing because there is nothing common in the enterprises and this isolation means that sustainability is almost impossible.
Perhaps PDM should have been organised in such a way that clusters of common production were created before the funds were disbursed. This is well into the first year of implementation, so this can be done.
