FIPS Africa has held a media briefing with grassroots journalists from Kakamega, Busia, and Bungoma counties to strengthen collaboration with local media in taking practical agricultural information to smallholder farmers in Western Kenya.
The engagement brought together journalists who work closely with farming communities to deepen their understanding of FIPS Africa’s partnerships with county governments, private sector actors, research institutions, and other stakeholders.
For FIPS Africa, the media is not only a channel for sharing information. It is an important partner in farmer learning, public awareness, and community sensitisation.
This partnership is rooted in FIPS Africa’s vision: Small Farms, Big Futures – the belief that smallholder farming families can build more secure, resilient, and dignified livelihoods when they access the right information, practical technologies, trusted support networks, and fairer market opportunities.
Through its Village-Based Advisor model, FIPS Africa works with trusted community-based advisors who support farmers in testing, learning, and adopting practical solutions that respond to local needs. In Western Kenya, these solutions include soil health technologies, dairy improvement through artificial insemination, improved crop varieties, climate-smart agriculture, agroecological soil conservation practices, and improved avocado production.
While FIPS Africa’s field officers and Village-Based Advisors continue to work directly with farmers at the community level, grassroots journalists help extend the reach of these messages to many more farming families. Their proximity to communities makes them important partners in translating technical agricultural information into practical, timely, and farmer-friendly messages.
The briefing also reflects FIPS Africa’s strategic focus on strengthening public communication, storytelling, and targeted campaigns that help farmers, partners, and decision-makers understand what works and why. The FIPS strategy recognises communication as central to strengthening public awareness, influencing change, and positioning the organisation as a trusted partner in farmer extension, market systems facilitation, youth agri-preneurship, and agroecology.
Speaking during the briefing, Vincent Oyondi, FIPS Africa Programmes Manager for Western Kenya, said media partnerships are critical in ensuring that more farmers receive the information they need to make better farming decisions.
“Partnership with media houses is important in ensuring that we reach more farmers, enabling them to adopt technologies that improve agricultural productivity and increase income. It also ensures farmers get factual information at the right time so they can make informed decisions. We have VBAs and officers in the field, but the media is the partner we need to help tell our story and sensitise farming families,” he said.
Rasto Wamalwa, Chairperson of the Kakamega Grassroots Journalists Association, said the forum gave journalists useful information to share with the communities they serve.
“This forum provides our members with the right information on what FIPS Africa and partners are doing in Western Kenya. We come from these communities, and the best thing we can give them is the right information that will enable them to farm better and improve their lives,” he said.
By working with grassroots journalists, FIPS Africa is strengthening a shared commitment to factual, timely, and accessible agricultural communication. This collaboration will help ensure more smallholder farmers receive trusted information on technologies and practices that can improve productivity, build resilience, and grow household incomes.
