Kenyan farmers news service moves pan-African

Nairobi, 16^th May 2012 Online farmers news service www.webarazafarmer.com, now followed by close to 100,000 farmers a month, for information on ways of increasing yields and returns in small-scale farming, is today launching as a pan-African news service, www.farmbizafrica.com.

“In partnership with South Africa's Farmers' Weekly, we are intent on getting the best quality of smallholder news and information to farmers across the regions of Africa that the Food and Agricultural Organisation has said could be a bread basket for the entire continent,” said FarmBizAfrica Editor Bob Koigi.

“Food security rests on getting better information to all our farmers, information that at the level of homes keeps families fed and pays school fees, and at the biggest level drives economic growth for everyone,” said Koigi.

FarmBizAfrica is owned by Kenyan new media company African Laughter, and was originally launched as www.webarazafarmer.com in April 2010. Since then it has moved to pole position as a source of agribusiness information in Kenya.

“Our base is still Kenya, but so many of the new information areas we are moving into have equal relevance if you're a farmer in Rwanda or Uganda,” said Koigi.

FarmBizAfrica's news will also be available through a multi-platform phone app, and a mobile version of the website.

In it's first-generation form, the news site now attracts many hundreds of readers' enquiries a month, offering a level of interactivity unique to the digital media, and also presenting an ideal advertising opportunity.

“We have built FarmBizAfrica knowing, too, how many advertisers now wish to reach extremely targeted audiences such as farmers in the most cost effective way. Our advertising rates come up at less than a fifth per ad view than the print medias in Kenya, and in the case of a site like FarmBizAfrica every single reader is there because they are already interested in investing in better returns and outcomes. They are specifically looking for ways of upgrading their outputs and livelihoods, which creates a perfect marketing medium” said Jenny Luesby, Managing Director of African Laughter.

“We have also kept accessibility in mind for advertisers. All our news is free for all readers – and always will be. But we have also found ways of incorporating advertising that means sellers can reach 100,000 farmers for less than Sh5,000.”

The new site is also now partnered with Farmers Weekly of South Africa, the continent's largest agricultural news service, owned by Caxton.

For more information, see www farmbizafrica.com, or contact:

Editor Bob Koigi: 0726 956585

Business Manager Alakie Asige: 0704 846923