Kisii Governor James Ongwae has called on Kisii farmers to embrace green house farming technology in order to improve productivity.
Speaking on Wednesday at Kisii Agricultural Training Center (KATC) during the County Agricultural Field Day and Launch of County Greenhouse Technology, governor Ongwae said Amiran Group from Israel has established a training centre on greenhouse farming best practices in the county.
Mr. Ongwae said each ward will have a green house kit for demonstration and offer training to farmers on how to carry out green house farming.
“My government will establish one greenhouse in each of the 45 wards where farmers will be trained on the skills required to take up the technology. Due to the population-land pressure, the technology will go a long way in curbing food insecurity and enable farmers obtain financial stability from agri-business,” observed governor Ongwae.
He added: “As you may be aware, the agricultural sector is the bedrock of this county’s economy with an estimated value of Sh65 billion. This is why we have prioritized this sector in our quest to become a middle-income economy. Our plan is to transform the sector from subsistence to a modern, innovative and commercially viable industry.”
He noted that investing in green house farming is not only efficient, but enables farmers get empowered economically.
“There is fast growing population in our County whereby an approximate of 1500 people lives in a square kilometer, far above the national average of 66 people per square km. This is wanting yet still we have no land to carry out large scale farming. Green houses occupy small pieces of land with high yield and this is not theoretical. Look, the cost of a green house is ksh. 200,000 but you are assured of generating more than ksh. 150,000 per year from one facility,” he demonstrated.
However, he warned farmers against sidelining indigenous bananas that he noted contain nutritional value to the health of babies: “Its not bad to practice tissue culture for bananas, otherwise this is the fastest type of bananas. But my simple advice to farmers as we embrace tissue culture is to also maintain our local and original bananas. They are important to lactating mothers since they facilitate growth and health of babies.”
Governor Ongwae promised to improve extension services by employing and deploying more officers to the filed, to help in training farmers understand the practice. He also said equipments would be increased to enable extension officers carry out their mandate.
He said the passage of ‘Food Security Bill’ that is in the County Assembly, would empower the county government to institute corrective interventions to ensure food security in the County.
On artificial insemination (AI), Mr. Ongwae said the programme will be rolled out at the end of the year, so that it can enable farmers have high breed of cows.
Other entities that the County government has partnered with to help farmers improve their productivity and storage are; Scope International, Syngenta, Equity Bank that offers financial solutions like loans, among others.