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Month: March 2019

Makueni inks deal with ChildFund Kenya to promote sustainable development in the County

Makueni County has inked a five-year partnership deal with ChildFund Kenya, a child-focused development organisation to promote sustainable development in the county.

The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by County Secretary Paul Wasanga and the ChildFund International president Anne Goddard on Friday at Emali seeks to;

Improve livelihoods by strengthening families’ economic security and self-sufficiency. ChildFund working with the County Government of Makueni will help youths and families start their own businesses or train for marketable careers which can lead to community-wide changes and opportunities;

Implement hygiene, water and sanitation projects in the county in order to increase access to clean water sources for domestic and agriculture use, and to reduce emergence and spread of waterborne and water related diseases;

Increase access to educational opportunities for all children and youth by supporting the development of child-friendly ECDE Centers, capacity building caregivers on responsive parenting, payment of bursaries for orphans and vulnerable children, and providing life skills training and mentorship support to adolescents and youth;

Promote primary health care services by implementing responsive parenting education and nutrition programs and

Create safe spaces in the community where children are nurtured and protected. This will be done mainly through the strengthening community based child protection mechanisms and linking them to the formal systems.

Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau who witnessed the signing of the MoU commended ChildFund Kenya for their good work of lifting the lives of the people of Makueni especially the children and welcomed the partnership.

President Goddard said the deal will see them achieve more development for the people saying that that they were happy to bring on board partners from the government and other organisations.

“We realise we can’t do much alone and that is why we are willing to partner with local and international organisations,” said Goddard.

Sunflower Farming in Makueni

Makueni farmers to reap millions from Sunflower growing

Thousands of Makueni farmers are looking at better days growing sunflower with a ready and almost insatiable market provided by Bidco company limited.

Through contract farming, Bidco has partnered with Makueni County and Safaricom through use of a mobile based app, Digifarm, through which farmers get agronomical advise, credit facilities and all the necessary extension services on their mobile phone.

The journey towards sunflower production in the County began in November 2018 when Bidco through DigiFarm Contracted 640 farmers to plant the crop as a pilot project.

According to Governor Kivutha Kibwana, the pilot project covered 941ha, harvesting 941 metric tons of sunflower seed valued at about Shillings 35 million.

Purchase of this produce was flagged off at Kathonzweni by governor Kibwana, Safaricom’s Director of Enterprises Business Rita Okuthe, and Bidco head of Agribusiness John Kariuki on Thursday.

Kariuki announced that Makueni has been identified as a model county for sunflower seed growing in the country where those aspiring to venture into the business will come for bench marking.

Out of the 10,000 metric tonnes of sunflower seeds demand by Bidco annually, Makueni has been allocated a 2,000 quota by the company, a motivator to the local farmers to take up its production.

To spur uptake of the crop, Kibwana has said that the county has recruited 75 extension officers trained on using the Digifarm platform in farmer service delivery and equipped with 75 mobile smart phones to enable adoption of the platform by the extension officers.

Another 33 tablets have been sourced for supervisors.

He said begining March, the county has kicked off Soil testing activity at a subsidized cost of Shillings 300 to the farmers. The soil test gives a detailed report after 5 minutes.

Makueni Pens Deal with Heifer International to fight hunger

Makueni County has inked a three-year partnership deal with Heifer International, a United States non-profit Corporation with presence in Kenya, to fight hunger and poverty in the county.

The deal aims at creating a framework for joint agricultural value chains development with key focus on dairy, poultry and beef value chains.

According to Heifer International Country Director George Odhiambo, the partnership will seek to leverage on modern methods of livestock development geared towards increased farmer incomes.

Some of the specific areas of partnerships include Research; Farmer trainings and capacity building; Linkage with financial services; Facilitating access to appropriate Technologies; Facilitating access to markets and Collecting, analyzing and monitoring data for decision making.

The two entities will also utilize the local field extension systems to build the capacity of producer organizations and farmers to effectively integrate all factors of crop and animal production which includes breeding, water access, feeds, milk quality, animal health, farmer training and access to financing.

Governor Kivutha Kibwana who signed the MoU on behalf of the County government said it will assist in technology transfer through the county borrowing from Heifer’s Values Based Holistic Community Development (VBHCD) model.

He said the deal will go a long way in creating jobs for youths, women while improving rural economies.

Agriculture ECM Lawrence Nzunga who witnessed the signing said the county is in the process of establishing a poultry abattoir at Kitise and the partnership will enable its successful roll out and sustainability.

6th Annual Devolution Conference

Governor Kivutha Kibwana and deputy Adelina Mwau join other governors and Food and Agricultural Organization officials in the launch of the “Counties That Matter” food programme, a partnership between counties and FAO.

This programme seeks to build sustainable food systems in counties as part of driving the food security aspect of the Big Four Agenda spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The launch took place on Wednesday during the 6th Annual Devolution Conference staged at Kirinyaga University, Kirinyaga county.

President Kenyatta commends Makueni’s Value Addition initiatives

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday lauded Makueni for its life changing value addition initiatives geared towards uplifting the standards of living for its citizens.

The president was awestruck by the County’s empowerment programmes aimed at wealth creation when he visited its exhibition booth at the 2019 Devolution Conference, staged at Kirinyaga University.

The head of state purchased carvings worth Ksh 30,000 from Makueni exhibitors.

Kenyatta was hosted at the Makueni booth by Governor Kivutha Kibwana alongside the county exhibitors.