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1,000 Makueni farmers benefit from coffee seedlings

Over 1,000 farmers from Mbooni Sub-County have benefitted from coffee seedlings in a move to boost coffee farming in the area.
The county gave the Batian composite variety, the best coffee variety which is a mixture of different pure lines for that region.
The seedlings, a donation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock was flagged off by Agriculture Executive Joyce Mutua on Thursday at Nzaini Coffee factory.
She was accompanied by Executives Dr. Sonia Nzilani (Lands and Environment), Nicholas Masila Nzioka (Gender) and Mbooni MCA Hon. Alexander Mulemba, who took part in the distribution exercise across various coffee factories in the locality.
“This Batian we are giving to farmers is an improved variety and is tolerant to Coffee Berry Disease, leaf rust and has high production,” said Mutua
Hon. Mulemba called on the farmers to take advantage of the public participation forums during the budget making processes so as to allocate enough funds for coffee production.
They also took part in planting coffee seedlings within the compounds of some of the 7 coffee factories in Mbooni.
 

CIHEB allocates Sh. 108M to Makueni for HIV, TB prevention and treatment

The Center for International Health Education and Biosecurity (CIHEB) has allocated Sh. 108M to Makueni county health services docket for HIV prevention and treatment services, the organization’s CEO Dr. Emily Koech has announced.

The institution is implementing a 5-year workplan for disease control and prevention funded program dubbed ‘The partnership for advanced care and treatment’ in the Lower Eastern region.

Dr. Koech led his CIHEB team on Monday to pay a courtesy call to governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr and his deputy Lucy Mulili with their discussions centered on comprehensive HIV and TB treatment.

Since last year, the organization funded Makueni through the county health management team to a tune of Sh. 112M to provide services and activities highlighted below.

● Provision of HIV prevention interventions for general and key populations including HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis(PrEP) services and gender-basedHIV-exposed violence

●Provision of High-quality targeted HIV testing services (HTS) leading to the identification and linkage of HIV-infected individuals.

● Provision of HIV prevention and treatment services for pregnant and breast-feeding women and HIV-exposedlast infants.

● Provision of quality patient-centered HIV care and treatment services for PLHIV, including management of commodities.

● Strengthening of health systems to support the delivery of HIV and TB related services including laboratory systems, commodity management and monitoring and evaluation systems.gender-based

Marking 16 days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

On Tuesday, Gender, Children, Youth, Sports and Social Services Executive Nicholas Nzioka held a meeting with Harriette Chiggai, President advisor on women rights with their discussions centered on standing up against Gender-Based Violence in the County.

Chiggai was elated by structures put in place such safe house, operational Policare among others.

Ndukuma Dam – Keeping the promise to the people

Excavation works for desilting of Ndukuma Dam in Muvau Ward, Makueni Constituency, has started.

The works include clearing vegetation, 5-meter deep excavation of the dam basin to remove silt accumulated over decades and raising the embankment by 0.5metres to increase the capacity of the dam.

Once the 58-acre dam is refurbished, it will serve more than 19 villages in the area. The work is being carried out by Makueni County Engineers led by CEC for Water Eng. Kasyoki Kieti and our county machine operators and technicians.

The county has committed a total of Kshs 50 million for this first phase.

Makueni targets to plant 200,000 seedlings and scatter 1 Million seed balls for wild tending

Makueni targets to plant 200,000 seedlings and scatter 1 Million seed balls for wild tending; Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jr has said.
On Saturday, the governor flagged by environment champions from Mbooni planted over 20,000 seedlings.
Environment and Gender Executives Dr. Sonia Nzilani and Nicholas Masila respectively led another group in Kibwezi- East in tree planting to combat the climate crisis and restore biodiversity.

Seed distribution exercise

At Chief’s Camp, Kibwezi town in Kikukmbulyu South ward, Kibwezi East Sub-County, elated farmers receive planting seeds donated by the County Government.

Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Development Executive Committee Member Ms. Joyce M. Mutua who oversaw the distribution exercise asked the farmers to embrace good agricultural practices including soil conservation during planting and weeding to enhance the productivity of the farming land in Makueni County.

At least 130,000 households will benefit from certified planting seeds. The seeds consist of 149 metric tonnes of maize, 40 tonnes of beans, 127 tonnes of sorghum and 85 tonnes of green grams. The exercise was contacted across the 30 wards. Wards in upper and mid-zones received Maize and beans while ward in the low land areas received Sorghum and green grams. Residents were urged to take advantage of the county donated climate-resilient seeds for sustainable agriculture.

 

Going green - Makueni

Going Green

On Saturday, several County Government officials joined forces with other Environmental Champions and greening movements to plant trees across the county. The exercise is part of the county’s wider strategy to increase forest cover, restore degraded land, protect various habitats, and build climate change adaptation and resilience in the long run.

The events were graced by CECMs Dr. Sonia Nzilani (Environment), Nicholas Masila Nzioka (Gender, Children, Youth, Sports & Social Service), Japheth Mang’oka (Devolution), Permanent Secretary Nominees Terry Mbaika (Devolution), and Ephantus Kimotho (State Department for Forestry).

 

Bill Gates visits healthcare workers in Makueni

Bill Gates the co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation visited Makueni County on a discovery trip to see the impact of Primary Health Care in the County.

Accompanied by Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior, Bill Gates visited the Kathonzweni Level 3 hospital where he met with medical staff and Community Health Volunteers and later toured the mother and Child Care unit at the Makueni County Referral Hospital.

Makueni County has enlisted a significant number of Community Health Volunteers who have contributed to better prenatal care and safer deliveries in the region.
The County health team presented some of the key steps taken to improve service delivery, monitor the purchase and distribution of health commodities as well as steps the County took to ensure the facilities remained open for immunizations even during the Covid -19 pandemic.
Governor Mutula lauded the County health workers for using data to manage health care and health commodities.
Further, the County has shortened access to medical facilities for the residents and introduced a system where health centers can re-invest the cash paid for services in running costs and improvements required.

Makueni residents challenged to turn to silkworm farming as demand increases

Makueni Deputy Governor H.E Lucy Mulili has praised a group of women from Kiatine, Wote/Nziu ward, Makueni Sub-County for taking the challenge in silkworm farming which is taking shape in the County.

The Deputy Governor spoke on Saturday when she toured Tosheka Textiles’ Kiatine silkworm cages.

Lucy Lau Bigham, the entrepreneur behind Tosheka Textiles called on the Makueni government to support extension and training services for silkworm farming.

The venture, according to Lau is a sustainable community-empowering textile initiative that bridges the economic gap for women.

Lau observed that Eri silkworms attract a competitive sale price of about Sh. 200 per kilogram.The worms majorly feed on caster beans with farmers at the outskirts of Wote town embracing farming of castor plants in plenty.

Through several degumming processes, silk produces fibre which through spinning is converted into a yarn hence making of clothes.