Government calls for agriculture cooperatives to apply for KJET support ahead of December deadline

By Benson Ltamely

Agriculture-based cooperatives, associations or cluster-based entities that operate in the tea, coffee, dairy, rice, leather, edible oils and textiles value chains have been urged to apply for support from the Ministry of Cooperatives, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development through the Kenya Job and Economic Transformation (KJET) Project before the December 31, 2025 deadline.

Funded by the World Bank and implemented by the Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA), KJET Project is a five-year Government of Kenya project that runs between 2024 and 2029, and whose development objective is to increase private sector investment, access to markets and sustainable finance.

“The project aims to enhance the productivity of MSME clusters thereby facilitating job creation and improvement which is aligned with the Government’s priority on job creation under its Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA),” KJET said in its call for applications.

In the same call for application from the cooperatives, associations and cluster-based entities in the agriculture value chain, KJET Project further observed that the goal is to enhance productivity, efficiency and job creation within MSME clusters across the 47 Counties.

“Through the Enhancing Cluster Competitiveness component, eligible organisations operating within priority value chains will benefit from tailored Business Development Services (BDS) training,” KJET remarked.

“In addition, some beneficiaries will receive co-investment support to acquire productive assets that enhance their operations and market reach,” it added.

Alongside operating in either the tea, coffee, dairy, rice, leather, edible oils and textiles value chains, to be eligible for the KJET Project support, a beneficiary must be registered as a cooperative, association or cluster-based entity and have been in operation for over two years.

Additionally, a KJET Project support beneficiary must also be involved in value addition as well as have products currently in the market.

Other non-agriculture based value chains that are targeted by the KJET Project for support include the blue economy, construction materials and minerals.

“While the project prioritises the four value chains listed above, exceptional MSME clusters in other sectors may be considered on case-by-case basis, depending on strategic alignment and potential for impact,” it noted.