Farmers told to join common interest groups to get market, increased income

A farmer operates a rice milling plant. [File, Standard]

Farmers in Migori County have been encouraged to join Saccos and Cooperatives to enable them to access better markets, increase income, and benefit from government grants.

Migori Deputy Governor Gimunta Mahiri stressed the importance of SACCOs, saying they would go a long way in helping farmers get support from both the national and county governments, where they would get grants, subsidized farm inputs, and training.

‘‘As a county, we have been giving out free seedlings, including maize, beans, sorghum, and fingerlings to help our farmers reduce the cost of production," Dr. Mahiri said.

Furthermore, the deputy governor told farmers to embrace government government-subsidized fertilizer program to reduce cost of production and increase their income.

He encouraged farmers to register with Saccos, saying they could not give funds to individuals.

Mahiri highlighted that they were committed to supporting farmers.

Lucas Mosenda, Migori's Agriculture County Executive Committee member (CECm), stressed the need to join common interest groups, which would enable them to get farm inputs at cheaper prices, better market access, and government support.

According to the CEC, a lot of their initiatives were geared towards working through farmers' groups.

"We are supporting several farmers' groups. We encourage them to work in groups,” Mosenda remarked.

He said the county government was also connecting farmers to the markets.

Mosenda explained that the county government had allocated three million grants to each of the county's 40 wards in an initiative dubbed a shilling to a shilling.

He said the grant initiative aimed at matching what farmers had saved to motivate and encourage them to produce more.

Gladys Otieno, a farmer from Rongo who represents women and the disabled in the county, asked her fellow farmers to unite and benefit from the funds provided by both national and county governments.

"We pray that God helps us move forward as farmers and help us get good produce," Ms. Otieno said.

She highlighted that sometimes farmers harvested their yields but failed to get a market for their produce.