State to carry out farmers census

By RENSON MNYAMWEZI

The Government will carry out a Sh2 billion farmers’ census to gather data for better planning.

Agriculture Permanent Secretary Romano Kiome said the one-and-a-half-year programme would help the Government develop comprehensive software for all farmers and identify problems affecting them.

It will also help in policy making and planning for prosperity in the agricultural sector.

“We are sending staff to Rome next month for training to familiarise themselves with how to conduct the important exercise. It will help the Government to know how many farmers it will deal with,” said the permanent secretary.

Dr Kiome made the remarks in Taita-Taveta County after inspecting Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness and Kenya Agricultural productivity and Sustainable Land Management Projects.

The region is among 20 counties that have benefited from donor funds to improve agriculture.

So far, the Government has spent more than Sh7.5 million for sustainable agribusiness activities to help eradicate poverty in the region.

Not satisfactory

Speaking in Wundanyi town accompanied by Taita DC Njenga Miiri and top Ministry of Agriculture senior officials, Kiome said he was not satisfied with the way the agricultural projects had been implemented in the region.

The PS criticised senior officials of the project for engaging more in workshops rather than concentrating on service delivery.

“The impact of the project is still far below average. By now the project should have made some difference in terms of output and poverty alleviation, but this is not the case,” he said.

He added: “Your interventions are too small yet money was allocated to implement such viable projects to improve the living standards of the local community. I want to know how many people have moved out of poverty to riches and how many have moved from hunger to food secure.”

The PS told the ministry staff that it was time to move out of workshops and focus more on agribusiness to help farmers add value to their products.

He said it was high time the farmers diversified from small scale to commercial agriculture to reap maximum benefits from their produce.

 “You have not done the baseline management process for resource management of the projects. This should be done in the next two weeks to improve the implementation of the projects at the farm level,” he said.

Mr Miiri noted the region was endowed with enormous resources like wildlife, water and minerals yet poverty levels were high.

He said the available resources had not been effectively tapped to benefit the local community.

“The region is third in terms of resources in the country, but this may not be translated to the living standards of the local community,” said Miiri.

The DC noted, however, that frequent wildlife invasion was also partly to blame for low agricultural production and persistent famine in the region.