A total of 4,287,713 farmers have been registered over the past five months in the ongoing farmers’ registration drive, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday, expressing optimism in the exercise which seeks to guide the government on the development of key agricultural policies.
The countrywide registration began in January in a bid to streamline the distribution of subsidized fertilizer. It came following President William Ruto’s directive for the creation of a digitized national register to weed out impostors and rogue traders who have been exploiting farmers.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the Rift Valley region accounted for 1,241,482 farmers, followed by the Eastern region with 888,675.
“Nyanza, Western, and Central Kenya have crossed the half-a-million mark, capturing the details of 663,438, 614,146, and 591,776 farmers respectively. The Coast region has compiled a list of 235,779 farmers, while North Eastern (44,679) and Nairobi (6,738) close the list with the lowest numbers so far,” read a part of the statement.
Some of the counties with a high number of farmers are Nakuru, Bungoma and Kakamega.
“Notably, some counties have relatively low numbers of registered farmers, with Isiolo, Mombasa, Marsabit, Wajir, and Garissa recording well under ten thousand each,” the statement added.
For the ongoing drive, Assistant County Commissioners trained Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs to facilitate the exercise and ensure the uptake of the subsidized fertilizers before the onset of the 2023 long rains season. BY CITIZEN DIGITAL