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More than 79,000 farmers from 12 counties have benefited from a USAID project that seeks to increase production, and reduce poverty and malnutrition in Kenya.
The USAID- funded Feed the Future programme, is being implemented through the Kenya Crop Dairy and Market System (KCDMS).
The targeted counties are Kitui, Makueni, Taita Taveta, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii, Kisumu, Siaya, Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga.
Nathan Kitulu, from Kitui Rural subcounty is one of the farmers who has been trained on soil health and good agronomic practices in food production.
He is a member of the Nyamandu Seed Merchants farmers group through which they have been trained on land preparation, spacing, the right time to spray and to harvest to reduce post-harvest losses.
“We have also been trained about soil testing. We are currently waiting for the results so that farmers can know the health of their soil and if there is a need to apply lime,” he said.
Kitulu grows green grams, cowpeas, beans and other crops on his two-acre land.
“Before KCDMS came into the picture, most farmers used animals to plough their land. But thanks to the intervention of the project, we have shifted to using tractors and this has changed the soil texture,” he said.
The training has seen him increase production of his green grams from a few kilos from an acre to two to three bags.
Dr Robert Mwadime, chief of party USAID-KCDMS said the project is designed to increase agricultural production, and reduce poverty and malnutrition in Kenya.
“This is done by spurring competitive, inclusive and resilient market systems in the horticulture and dairy sectors,” he told the Star during an interview.
He said despite the agricultural sector contributing approximately 33 per cent of the country’s GDP, producers/farmers continue to face constraints that limit growth and perpetuate food insecurity.
The USAID-funded project is aimed at promoting conservation agriculture techniques to improve productivity among smallholder farmers.
The project is private and public sector driven to transform agri-market systems.
It also aims to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and encourage government level reforms that promote investment.
Mwadime said, “In order to achieve its objectives, we are working through 22 grant partners; two local implementing partners and other stakeholders including the 12 county governments.”
He said their role is to help farmers to not only produce but also to produce for a market.
“The biggest concern for farmers is a ready market for their produce. Farmers want to be assured that while they can produce different commodities, there is a market that pays them well and is also consistent,” he said.
“This is because a farmer can only invest in production when they are assured of consistency in price and picking of their produce. But the market also wants consistency and quality from the farmers.”
Mwadime said KCDMS’s responsibility is to identify markets that want to expand and reach bigger volumes for their exports but also for their distribution on trade in the country.
For example, KCDMS has worked with exporters on the avocado value chain.
“We have been trying to open for them opportunities to improve the quality and volume of avocado that they get. We are also working to link them with farmers in the Western region,” he said.
The government has been putting in place strategies to open up the Western and Nyanza regions for avocado farming to increase the volume of avocados produced in the country.
Mwadime said almost 90 per cent of avocados produced in the country come from the Central and Eastern region.
Due to the climatic change, Mwadime said, the volume is not increasing because land within these regions is constrained. This is also due to the fact that productivity of the old trees has been going down.
He said the country can increase productivity by opening the Western and Nyanza regions where there is open land to grow avocados. The soils are also good and they have a production period that could be an incentive for any exporter.
“We have been trying to support the counties in that region to make sure that they can produce avocado that has export quality. This is by ensuring that farmers have access to quality seeds and seedlings that have a longer survival rate,” Mwadime said.
He said they are also working with the private sector in Kitale to create a seedling site where they can produce more than 100,000 seedlings for farmers.
“We are also supporting farmers to increase the number of trees that they have. We’ve been incentivising farmers by giving them a subsidy funded by USAID so that they will be able to buy more seedlings and increase their seedlings to help increase their income,” Mwadime said. BY THE STAR