AgrarKontakte International (AKI) e.V., in collaboration with Bukura Agricultural College (BAC), organized a 4-day basic machinery training course at the agricultural college in Western Kenya for the participants of the German-African Trainee Program 2022.

The 4-day training, held from 15th April to 18th April 2022, was conducted in order to equip the trainees with basic skills on farm machinery operations which will be part of their daily activities during their traineeship in Germany.  

The 39 trainees were guided through various topics on farm machinery, including the identification of farm machinery and its applications, adjustment and maintenance of farm machinery, attaching various tillage implements to a tractor, driving the tractor while tilling the soil and other farming activities with machinery.

The trainees showed great eagerness to learn and to apply the acquired skills later on, during the practical training on their host farms in southern Germany. The trainees had the opportunity to mount the farm implements, drive the tractor and undertake basic farm operations using the tractor which will help them to handle the machines for improved operations and with more safety.

The trainees of cohort 2022 are coming to Germany on the 6th of May 2022 for their six-month traineeship and are curious to learn more about agricultural, cultural and life in southern Germany.

The traineeship program is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as part of the global project "Green Innovation Centres in the Agro-Food Sector (GIAE)". The aim of the project is to increase the income of smallholder farms, enhance employment and the regional supply of food in the rural target regions of Africa through innovations in the agricultural and food sector. Within this framework, AgrarKontakte International (AKI) e.V. has been granted to implement the traineeship program with Kenya since 2019.