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The sky is now the limit for  Huruma Women Group, a vibrant group of entrepreneurs in Kibwezi Town, after receiving Hybrid Solar-Biomass Mango drier unit from the Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme Phase Two (ASDSP II). 

The programme which is supported by Makueni County government is designed to boost their daily processing capacity.

The group adds value to horticultural produce such as vegetables and fruits through drying them and is now calling upon local farmers to take up full-time agricultural activities especially indigenous foods and vegetables, as their outfit is a ready market and locally accessible.

A big problem in the current agricultural sector in the country are high prices for animal/chicken feeds due to high protein prices.

 

The Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development in partnership with Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme Phase Two (ASDSP II) has supported innovative ideas with prospects to women and youth in the priority value chains namely; indigenous chicken, mango and green grams.

Edwin Sila of Nguu-Masumba Ward is one of the beneficiaries of such ASDSP II-funded innovations. He now uses Black Soldier Fly Production and Harvesting unit (BSF), to produce protein-rich feed without having to buy expensive indigenous chicken feed.

 

The usage of the black soldier flies larvae as feed would decrease the cost of chicken feed for farmers and can lead to a more food-secure economy.

In the mango value chain, the Makueni County Fruit Processors Cooperative Society Limited, from Wote-Nziu Ward has also received mango de-sapping pallets to improve the quality of the produce for export.

 

The two innovations were commissioned on Wednesday by Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development Chief Officer Dr. Victoria Kyalo accompanied by ASDSP II Coordinator Regina Maingi.

Over 2000 farmers drawn from Ukia ward in Kaiti Sub-County are beneficiaries of graft avocado scions  (Hass variety), courtesy of the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development, Makueni County.

The initiative, a product of public participation, is geared towards supporting the farmers to increase productivity and profitability in the avocado value chain. The program also aims to enhance market access and business linkages to the farmers.

The Hass avocado is a new variety that has been scientifically modified through grafting to significantly reduce its maturity period to between 2.5 years and 3 years from the typical period of 6 to 7 years.

According to Agriculture Chief Officer Daniel Ndolo, Hass Avocado is the new goldmine for modern farmers and urged farmers to plant more avocadoes.

 

This is because Hass-avocado does not require much labor and time to maintain. In addition, the demand for avocados is extremely high and can’t satisfy the current local demand and in the European countries.

 

Ndolo spoke on Tuesday at Kilala Chief’s Office where he launched the scions distribution exercise and handed over the scions to 15 grafters, who have been trained and will offer the grafting services to the earmarked farmers.

The County has so far distributed close to 60,000 improved Hass variety seedlings to farmers in the avocado growing areas and is at the forefront to transform the avocado value chain into a robust economic enterprise to impact positively on the livelihoods of the community.

Makueni County has been feted by the World Bank for commendable performance in the implementation of the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP).

 

The County emerged position three for the period between 2019 and 2023 for satisfactorily implementing NARIGP in the 20 selected wards in Makueni.Trans-Nzoia and Nakuru Counties took the first and the second positions respectively.

NARIGP is a 5-year Government of Kenya project that is implemented through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Fisheries and Irrigation with funding support from the World Bank.

 

The project’s goal is to increase agricultural productivity and profitability of targeted rural communities in selected Counties, and in the event of an Eligible Crisis or Emergency, to provide immediate and effective response.

 

According to the World Bank, Makueni County had funded more than 600 micro-projects across the four value chains namely mangoes, green grams, poultry and tomatoes.

 

In addition, the county had trained over 10,000 farmers on agriculture best practices and had adopted new technologies for increasing productivity. These were some of the county performance indicators used by the World Bank to rank the counties

According to the County Project Coordinator Paul Musyimi who received the award on behalf of the County on 7th of June 2023 in Mombasa, “We have supported over 700 groups and 24,000 farmers in Makueni to start micro-projects in tomatoes, poultry, green grams and mangoes.”

 

Musyimi also revealed that they had spent over Sh 700 Million since the inception of the project in 2017, to empower local farmers with the aim of increasing agricultural productivity and profitability.

 

Apart from funding and capacity-building farmers, a key premise of the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) is the importance of linking farmers or Common Interest Groups (CIGs) and Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups (VMGs) organized along priority Value Chains to markets.