State delivers 17 tonnes of Bt cotton seeds to Busia farmers

 

 Aidah Nasimiyu, Francis Opailo and Silas Omuyokoti work at Opailo's BT cotton farm in Apegei village in Busia County. [File, Standard]

The government has delivered 17 tonnes of Bt cotton seeds to Busia county, in efforts to boost production and revive the textile sector.

Busia county targets to put 11,253 acres of land under cotton farming in the first phase, and ultimately increase this to 42,000 acres.

The project targets to produce at least 800kgs of lint and cotton seed cake per acre, which will translate to more than 9 million kilos including 3 million kilos of lint and 6 million kilos of cotton seed cake.

Already 82,000 bags of fertiliser have been delivered to the Malaba NCPB depot, for disbursement to farmers growing Bt cotton, a genetically modified pest resistant cotton variety that produces an insecticide to combat bollworm.

The Bt cotton seeds will be issued through the e-vouchers. About 12,000 cotton farmers have been registered on the Kiamis platform.

State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said that the government also plans to hire agricultural extension officers to work with farmers to boost production per acre.

"11 cooperatives have been selected in Busia in the push to turn around cotton production and enhance other agriculture value chains. The cooperatives will be revamped and turned into multipurpose Saccos," said Hussein.

He said that ten agricultural extension officers per ward will be recruited to train and guide growers on the best farming practices with the aim of increasing production from about 300kg per acre to at least 800kg.

"The Busia cotton project will act as a template in the government plan to increase yields and boost all agricultural value chains across the country," he said.

He announced that engagement between cotton farmers and agricultural officers from the national government and the county is currently underway at the Agricultural Training College in Busia town.

President William Ruto pledged to revive the textile industry in the country to boost garment making for local use and export.

Ruto last year said the revival of cotton farming will save the country a Sh40 billion import bill annually for clothing materials used to make garments at the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and promised to empower cotton farmers to grow the raw material for textile factories to lower operational costs.

He noted that Kenya has not reached even a quarter of its garment export quota to the United States through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) programme hence the need to get more clothing materials locally to increase production.

“We have a plan to reform the EPZ. We want to save the Sh40 billion used to import garment-making materials through increased cotton production. We will use the local materials to make garments for local use and export. That is the way out for the future,” he said.