Kilifi farmers get free cashew nut seedlings

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi. (Photo: Gideon Maundu, Standard) 

Kilifi county government is distributing improved seedlings in efforts to revive cashew nut farming, Governor Amason Kingi has said.

Speaking when he met a group of farmers in Kilifi town Monday, Mr Kingi said they had taken the necessary measures to ensure that production improved over the next two years.

"We are providing farmers with free cashew nut seedlings that take two years to mature," said the governor.

The project is a collaboration between the county and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. Kingi said it was hard to convince farmers to go back to cashew nut farming due to the losses they suffered when they were neglected by the national government.

"But we are assuring them the county government will address all their issues going forward," he said, adding that his administration would also work with partners to set up a processing factory to encourage value addition for better returns.

He said they had also mechanised maize farming to improve production.