Vihiga governor Wilber Ottichilo. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The push to entrench agribusiness in the land-scarce Vihiga County has been scaled up following the latest move by the county government to distribute an additional 15,000 packets of traditional vegetable seeds to farmers.
Governor Wilber Ottichilo handed the seeds to 600 more farmers to start growing the nutritious vegetables on their small land parcels in a major plan aimed at boosting yields and returns.
The push now brings to at least 3,600 farmers benefiting from the program.
Governor Ottichilo is encouraging farmers to embrace agribusiness, saying the venture will lead to improved agricultural production in the county.
The targeted vegetables are the nutritious cow peas – locally known as likuvi, black night shade (lisutsa), slender leaf (mito), spider plant (tsisaga), jute mallow (mutere) and amaranth (tsimboga) that are fast growing.
The county boss said the additional 600 farmers are drawn from all the 25 wards in the county.
While addressing farmers who turned up at the county headquarters in Mbale town to receive the seeds, Dr Ottichilo said his administration is aiming at improving agricultural production in the county.
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This, he said, is key to enhancing food security and growing the economy of the county.
“When I took over office, farmers used to harvest eight sacks of vegetables per acre but as we speak, the number has improved to 15 sacks per acre,” said Dr Ottichilo.
“My target is to make Vihiga the leading county in Kenya when it comes to production of indigenous vegetables.”
The county’s residents have been relying on the neighbouring Nandi County for fresh produce of traditional vegetables, a move that could soon come to an end following the ongoing campaign.
Dr. Ottichilo said that the venture is part of the Sh300 million that was received from the World Bank to boost agricultural activities that also include irrigation farming, dairy farming and poultry keeping.
Construction work has begun at the Sh40 million Wemilabi-Central Bunyore irrigation scheme to ensure uninterrupted cultivation of the African leafy vegetables throughout the year.
When commissioned, the irrigation scheme is expected to put over 1,000 acres of land under irrigation farming by October this year by reducing reliance on rain-fed agriculture.
Dr Ottichilo said his administration considers the irrigation scheme as one of its flagship projects that is being undertaken by the agriculture department and will be used for the cultivation of green fresh produce.
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At the moment, the local administration is in the process of constructing a market for African leafy vegetables produced at Esibuye at a cost of Sh89 million.
Last year, some 3,000 farmers were supplied with 3,299.1kg of seeds for the African leafy vegetables for planting.
At the time, the Agriculture department in the county estimated that the seeds for African leafy vegetables that were procured from the Kenya Seed Company would be planted on a land area covering 1,493 acres.
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