Agriculture

Farmers from Makueni, Machakos and Kitui counties are set to benefit from an irrigation agribusiness program, an initiative geared towards enhancing food security through irrigated agriculture.

The church community based project, launched at Vyulya village in Machakos is a brainchild of ABC Archbishop in charge of East Africa Timothy Ndambuki and supported by TIMADA LTD and Church Capacity Building and Support Centre (CCCBSC).

The program was unveiled by Archbishop Ndambuki, Makueni County Governor Kivutha Kibwana and Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Maliti on Wednesday.

According to the Archbishop, a successful model, tried and proven in Vyulya shall be replicated in the South Eastern Kenya Economic Bloc (SEKEB) to create employment and promote agribusiness across Ukambani and beyond.

“We want this to move to the three counties and we are urging them to walk with us. This will help us improve food security as well as create employment to our youth and women,” said Ndambuki.

The program, to adopt the Israel Moshav model, will entail training of farmers by experts on agricultural skills and supplied with various farm equipment and inputs. The farmers will further form a cooperative society that will help them market their produce as well as link them to export opportunities.

Makueni Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau together with her Machakos counterpart Eng. Francis Maliti on Friday officially opened the 2019 Makueni Agricultural Satellite Show at Makindu saying it is a good platform to promote agriculture for local farmers.

The two toured several exhibition stands where Makueni farmers showcased agricultural products, variety breeds of livestock and technological innovations. This year, the show received 85 exhibitors compared to 46 of last year.

“In 2016, the county government of Makueni endorsed the idea of starting our own show which was triggered by the realization that when agriculture performs well, economy grows automatically. Again, we are aware that we don’t have adequate extension officers, hence a show of GIANT classroom for farmers,” Mwau noted.

The DG further noted that since 2014, the government had utilised Sh 60 million in livestock value chain to upgrade livestock value as well as implementing disease control programme.

Mwau also announced that the county government has set aside Sh 7 million to set up an irrigation scheme in order to boost agricultural potential in Makueni.

DG Maliti while appreciating the county for the bold step to initiate an own local show, urged farmers to prioritise growing of drought resistant crops as one way of mitigating the effects of climate change.

He said: “We have recently noticed that the effects of climate change are real. As farmers, you should prioritise growing of traditional food crops such as sorghum, millet, cassava and green grams.”

The show which will close on Saturday was also graced by senior county officials from Makueni and Machakos as well as representatives from the Agricultural Society of Kenya.

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.

Kathonzweni dairy farmers on Friday were handed over a milk processing plant that will help in enhancing milk processing in the area and the county at large.

The plant which has a capacity to pasteurize 1000 litres of milk per hour is a project courtesy of a partnership between the County Government of Makueni and USAID through the International Livestock and Research Institute(ILRI).

According to the Dairy Farmers Cooperative Society chairman Stephen Kyonda, the plant is a step towards achieving their vision of being the leading in producing quality and quantity milk in Ukambani.

“Guided by our vision of being the leading Dairy Cooperative Society in producing quality and quantity milk in Ukambani, we have no doubt that this plant is not at the right place,” Kyonda stated.

Chief of Party ILRI Dr Romano Kiome who graced the handover ceremony urged the farmers to increase the membership of the cooperative in order to have steady supply of milk to the plant for meaningful processing.

Kiome further said that the handover was meant to have the farmers manage the plant and ensure its full operations before the official commissioning scheduled in few weeks’ time.

Makueni Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau called for prudent management of the cooperative for maximum benefit to the farmers.

She also urged the farmers to take advantage of the free artificial insemination services offered by the county government in order to increase yields of milk.

Makueni green gram farmers are set to reap big from the crop as the national government steps in to promote the crop as a model one for the county.

This was announced by Principal Secretary for Agriculture Hamadi Boga on Thursday during a county farmers’ field day at Kwa Kathoka KALRO farm, which the PS presided over on behalf of Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri.

The event was organized by the County Government in collaboration with the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) and was meant to educate farmers on smart agricultural practices and the appropriate seeds for maximum productivity.

Boga said the people of Makueni would be given an opportunity to choose one model crop that the ministry would promote through farmer capacity building, marketing and other value chain linkages to ensure maximum profitability.

The farmers, under the guardianship of the Agriculture Executive Committee Member Lawrence Nzunga picked ‘Ndengu’ as their preferred model crop.

Governor Kibwana, who hosted the PS, said out of the county government’s support and that of its partners, the acreage under pulses ( Beans, cowpeas, green grams and Dolichos) in the county has increased to 255,432 hectares with an estimated value of over Sh 8 Billion.

Kibwana said the County is now focusing on grain processing with plans a foot to construct the Makindu Integrated Grain Processing Facility to add value to pulses and enable farmers access both local and export markets.

The government has allocated Sh 1 million to promote sericulture across the country.

Agriculture Chief Officer  Mary Muteti said the move is part of county government’s strategy to support poverty reduction programs.

Ms Muteti who was addressing participants at a silkworm farming forum said the promotion of sericulture will aid income generation among the locals.

She said the government is also looking into ways of increasing value addition and marketing of silk finished products.

Over 20 groups participated in the event organised in partnership with Tosheka company.

Deputy governor Adelina Mwau  who attended the event said silkworm rearing is a major economic enhancing activity with huge benefits to the households of the participating farmers.

She said the direct selling of  silkworm products will help create employment opportunities for the locals.

“It is a viable and profitable venture especially to the women and the youth,” Mwau said.