The Kiambu County government has been requested to buy braille machines for farmers living with vision disabilities in the county to enable them access agricultural information.
Speaking at a meeting for the visually impaired in Mang’u, Agnes Waithira said that the government needed to quickly intervene on the matter saying such farmers would not be able to read El~Nino rain updates given conventionally.
She said, “There are over 47,000 farmers in the county suffering physical disabilities who want to be self-reliant by engaging in income generating activities like farming. To help them achieve their dreams, the county government should chip in and at least buy them braille machines.”
Waithira regretted that since there are no braille machines for blind farmers; it was difficult for them to access the weather advisories as they were printed on conventional paper.
Joyce Mwangi, the vice secretary of the group said that she was able to access the weather advisories online because her computer is able to convert print into audio saying she shared the information with 500 blind colleagues.
The members urged the county government to also increase representation of people living with physical disabilities to statutory bodies.
The meeting was held at the Mang’u Catholic Hall in Gatundu North Sub-County.