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Day: September 6, 2023

Governor Mutula Unveils the Farmer Profiling Exercise in Makueni

Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr together with his Deputy Lucy Mulili on Wednesday officially launched the Agricultural Value Chain profiling exercise, Makueni chapter at ATC- Kwakathoka.

The Agricultural Value Chain profiling is an exercise that is being spearheaded by the National Government in collaboration with the County Governments through the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) and is seeking to undertake a comprehensive registration of all farmers across the country.

The exercise also seeks to map and register all value chain actors that support farmers such as agro-inputs dealers, aggregators, processors, extension service providers, marketing centers and transporters, among others. This will help the government link farmers to key service providers through digitalized platforms such as e-extension and other e-services.

Makueni has already recruited 504 agri prenures and will embark on the data collection on Friday, and will take 25 days.

Governor Mutula urged the agri preneurs to be keen so as to capture every farmer so that they don’t miss out on important government services.

On her part, Mulili said that the exercise is important for the county government and that the data will be helpful in informed decision making and planning.

Agriculture Executive Joyce Mutua asked the young people to take advantage of the profiling activity and borrow some of the best agriculture practices which they can implement to better their lives.

The launch was also graced by Devolution and Transport Executives Japheth Mang’oka and Eng. Sebastian Kyoni respectively, Muvau-Kikumini Member of County Assembly Elizabeth Mutinda, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development Chief Officer Dr. Victoria Kyalo and NAVCDP County Coordinator Paul Musyimi.

KCDMS, Makueni Drum for Conservative Agriculture

At least 4,000 makueni farmers will benefit from free deep tillage services, ahead of the short rains in a bid to increase agricultural productivity and profitability.
 
USAID funded Feed the Future Kenya Crops and Dairy Market Systems Activity (KCDMS) in conjunction with the county government of Makueni will engage 30 Tractor service providers to offer free deep tillage services among farmers.
Deep tillage popularly known as conservative agriculture is a climate adoption methodology where farmers are encouraged to use chisel plough/sub soiler instead of the convectional disc plough.
 
This offer will run for one month before the short rains commence in October and it acts as an incentive to farmers to adopt these practices by providing them with cost-effective solutions that can significantly improve soil health and crop yield.
 
Makueni County Agriculture and Irrigation Chief Officer Daniel Ndolo and KCDMS Senior Technical Advisor  Brenda Aluda on Monday flagged off a 2-day deep tillage campaign to sensitize farmers on conservative agriculture.
Aluda noted that over the last seasons farmers in the region have been reaping low farm produce as a result of drought that had hit the area due to climate change. 
 
“The reason why we are focusing today on soil and water conservation measures is because Makueni, Kitui and Taita Taveta have experienced drought due to climate change in the past two seasons and with insufficient water farmers have been reaping little farm produce,” said Aluda.
 
Ndolo on his part called on farmers to take advantage of the free deep tillage services and adopt conservative Agriculture for increased yield and food security at the household level.

Makueni celebrates success of keeping babies HIV-Free

 
 
With smiles on their faces, a group of mothers from Makueni are celebrating the graduation of their children, not the ordinary graduation but all the 40 children are HIV-free born by HIV positive mothers.
Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr accompanied by Dr. Jennifer Galbraith, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)- Kenya Director for the Division of Global HIV and TB on Tuesday launched the county’s HIV transition roadmap – a key sustainability pillar for HIV programming as well as leading in the celebrations.
The support from the U.S. CDC and Makueni County is helping to eliminate pediatric HIV by 2027.
Governor Mutula termed stopping the transmission of HIV from mother to child as critical adding that no infant or young child should acquire HIV when there are universally accessible medicines to prevent such from happening.
However, he assured the County will revamp HIV awareness campaigns challenging men to take a central role in ensuring they get tested.
He praised the mothers for taking their antiretroviral medicine consistently and correctly, hence keeping their infants HIV-free during pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding period.
Dr. Jennifer said due to the continued support in the County, HIV viral suppression stands at 96% saying if maintained then there will be reduced HIV transmission.