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2000 Ukia Farmers Adopt Hass Avocado as their New Green Gold.

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 Feted for Stellar Performance in the implementation of NARIGP

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.
 
 
 
 
 
 

MAKUENI DEPUTY GOVERNOR LUCY MULILI ANNOUNCES SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAMME FOR ECDE WITHIN MAKUENI.

Makueni deputy governor H.E Lucy Mulili has lauded ACK Wote Township Primary school for posting exemplary performance in 2022 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and grade 6 (KPSEA) exams.
 
Mulili who spoke on Friday during the school’s prize giving ceremony revealed that the County government had set aside adequate budgetary allocation for ECDE infrastructural scaling up and implementation. 
 
Mulili further announced that the County government was at an advanced stage of scheduling an elaborate school feeding programme and with its policy near completion.
 
Mulili also noted that together with governor Mutula Jnr, they were beginning to fastrack on  implementation of community centric projects so as to bring services closer to the locals.
 
Mulili hailed the class of 2022 for its stellar performance by recording a mean score of 366 marks and transitioning almost 100% of the pupils to high schools. 
 
“Our children are our rich heritage and the fact that this school is consistently known for very good performance over the years, its a statement of visionary leadership” Mulili noted.
 
She further encouraged the parents to take up the responsibility of shaping their kids character once they are at home for holidays.
 
18 candidates scored 400 marks and above with 135 pupils scoring between 350 and 399 while 48 others scored between 300 and 349.

 

 

Commemorating World Environment Day

Deputy Governor Lucy Mulili on Monday led Makueni residents in marking the World Environment Day at Lukenya College Emali, with a call to invest in plastic waste recycling to curb plastic pollution.
Mulili said the County Government of Makueni in collaboration with NEMA has made efforts to enforce the ban on supply and use of Single Use plastic bags.
Through the department of Lands, Urban Planning and Environment, the county government has also upscaled environmental awareness on plastic pollution solutions and enhancing environmental sanitation in all the towns and Market’s, Mulili said.
 
 
 

Partnerships For Shared Prosperity

His Excellency the Governor on Friday evening hosted Richard Moller and Nicholas Njogu of Tsavo Trust who paid courtesy call on him at his office.
They further held a meeting with officials drawn from various county departments to evaluate projects which Tsavo Trust has undertaken in collaboration with the County Government and the local community.
Tsavo Trust through Kamungi Conservancy has collaborated with the county government in rolling out various community projects across the sectors of water, healthcare, agriculture, education, climate action, tourism, wildlife conservation and conflict deterrence.
His Excellency the Governor gave his commitment towards upscaling the partnership.
 
 
 
 

Partnering for Change-Governor Mutula brings top Neurosurgeons to Makueni.

Makueni in partnership with The Brain Tumour Association of Kenya (BTAK), led by Prof Christopher Musau, a specialist neurosurgeon with a wealth of experience spanning over two decades is carrying out free life-changing Neurosurgical consultations, and operations during the June 1-3rd, 2023 County Neurosurgical camp.
Friday being the second day of the three-day medical camp themed “Creating Brain Tumour Awareness”, H.E Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr addressed hundreds of neurosurgeon students from the University of Nairobi, patients, caregivers, and other medical professionals from China and Pakistan.
The Governor promised of ensuring the County sets aside a parcel of land for the Makueni fraternity to build a dedicated hospital for surgeries.

Makueni Trains 900 Community Climate Change Action Champions

The department of Lands, Urban Planning and Climate Change has completed sensitization of over 900 community champions who will lead community-based actions to build resilience against climate change.

The champions, composed of 30 persons from each of the 30 wards, were trained on participatory climate risk assessment and identification of resilience building actions.

The identified ward climate action plans will be implemented through a World Bank funded programme dubbed Financing Locally-led Climate Actions (FLLoCA).

The community engagement also culminated in a County climate risk assessment report and action plan outlining the different risks and hazards, their adaptation strategies and ward climate action priorities.