Kakamega farmers now have a reason to smile, after the County government revealed plans to work with MMUST School of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences (SAVET) to improve their farming techniques. This was during the 2019 MMUST Kakamega Agri-Expo, organized by SAVET in the University Farm on 24th May 2019.
The theme of this year’s Expo was ‘Positioning Agriculture for Sustainable Food and Income Security through Technology and Innovation’. Farmers, students and other agricultural stakeholders from Kakamega County and beyond, came in large numbers to be educated on the emerging agricultural techniques to better their farming. Exhibitors from various organizations displayed their products and presented educative information about what they offered to the ambitious farmers. The Expo attracted many exhibitors, among them; Davis and Shirtliff, who specializes in water pumps, solar, bore hole services, swimming pools, water treatment, generators and irrigation services, MACLIK, Baraka Fertilizers, Seed Co, KEPHIS, Mavuno Fertilizers, Bananapack, PIONEER Hybrids, Western Seed Company, YARA Fertilizers, KALRO among many others. This comes amidst fears of climate change in Kenya, which calls for new farming methods. The World Bank has been on the forefront in funding small scale farmers. The bank recently gave out Ksh.104m to farmers, with an objective of enabling farmers to engage in Climate Smart Agriculture for Kenya. Like other critical stakeholders, MMUST is determined to increase agricultural productivity and build flexibility to climate change. This Expo is a concerted effort towards realizing this.
Gracing the occasion, the chief guest, Kakamega County Minister for Trade, Industrialization and Tourism, Mr. Kasim Ali Were assured farmers that plans are underway to make sure that farmers are given the required support to enable them engage in constructive agriculture, which not only gives them daily food but also earns them income. “We have plans to work with Masinde Muliro University School of Agriculture to make sure that we educate our farmers on the new farming techniques. As a County we have the potential and we are going to utilize it for our own growth”, said Mr. Were. He further challenged farmers to make their own products rather than depend on the imports from other counties.
Speaking during the Exhibition, the Ag. Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics and Students Affairs, Dr. Bernadette Sabuni encouraged farmers to grab such opportunities to learn and get involved in agriculture for sustainable food and income security. She said that through the school of Agriculture the university continuously supports the national effort of achieving food security in Kenya, which is a build up to the Presidential Big Four Agenda. The Ag. Deputy Vice Chancellor, Planning, Research and Innovation, Prof Charles Mutai, applauded the event organizers for organizing such an educative event. He said it is through such expos that farmers are able to keep abreast with evolving farming methods and become even more productive with their farms.
By Shiundu Wilberforce (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Dr. Lydia Anyonje (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
