Meet Felista: an agripreneur leading change in her community

In Wamumu, in Embu County, Kenya, Felista Nyakio is transforming sustainable farming into a thriving business that is creating a decent living for other farmers in her community without destroying the earth they rely on.

As a Village-based Advisor (VBA) trained through Farm Africa’s SAVES project, funded by AGRA, Felista helps local farmers grow more, earn more and farm more sustainably. She supports over 100 farmers directly and reaches more than 200 more with training sessions and practical farming advice delivered at demonstration plots.

Training as a VBA with Farm Africa opened a new chapter for Felista. The project equipped her with practical skills in farming advisory services, agribusiness management and digital marketing – helping her train farmers while building her own successful agribusiness.

Community impact

With Farm Africa’s support, Felista puts her training into action promoting sustainable and regenerative farming practices, including using certified seeds, using mulch to improve soil health and growing vegetables in kitchen gardens. These help farmers improve both their food security and incomes while reducing crop losses.

The rice harvest at Felista Nyakio’s Farm. Credit: Farm Africa/ Camilla Turner

With these new skills, Felista began applying her knowledge in her own fields, turning training into a thriving livelihood.

Farming as a business

For Felista, farming is both a passion and an enterprise. She grows maize, beans, leafy vegetables and rice. As well as selling her own produce, she makes money by supplying farming inputs such as seeds; milling other farmers’ rice and selling it in bulk online.

Felista says, “That’s where my passion came out. I not only train, but I’m an agripreneur. Take my rice field where I do most of my farming: after doing the farming, I mill the rice and sell it. I’m not just doing agriculture; I’m doing agriculture and business.”

Felista’s passion for her work shines through as she describes the motivation for her work:

Looking ahead

With demand growing, Felista is planning to open an input and retail shop to bring quality seeds and market access closer to farmers in Wamumu Ward.

Her goal is simple: empower farmers with the tools, knowledge and markets they need to thrive.

Felista, a Village-based Advisor in Kenya holding a handful of grains in a warehouse. Credit: Farm Africa / Camilla Turner.

Felista knows that when farmers can grow their own food, it can transform families’ finances, freeing up money that would have been spent buying food for other essential needs, like school fees and buying seeds for the next season. She says:

“When you do your own farming and have food, you can do other things, because the expenses a family has is food. So, if you grow your own maize and beans, you will be fully equipped.”

Felista’s work shows that farming shouldn’t cost the Earth. With the right support, farming can feed people sustainably, provide a proper living for farmers and renew the natural world.