Kisii Governor James Ongwae has said farmers from the county would be given free quality avocado seedlings that will enable them have high production of the commodity.
Speaking on Friday at Gusii Stadium when he was addressing the public in the on-going Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) southern Kenya branch show, Ongwae said that the avocado plant has been developed at Kisii Agricultural Training Centre (KATC) and its planting is slated to begin soon.
He said the county has mainstreamed public-private partnerships for sustainable horticulture and agro-processing enterprises.
“Last year, we licensed an investor to set up an avocado processing plant in Kisii town and last December, I flagged off the first consignment of 30 metric tons of avocado oil destined for the cosmetic industry in Mexico. However, this factory is operating below its design capacity of 350 metric tons per day,” the governor said.
“To address this, my government has put in place mechanisms to increase production, especially through distribution of free seedlings of the Hass Variety of avocado that is early maturing. We intend to extend this kind of arrangement to bananas and tomatoes in this financial year,” Ongwae said.
In order to promote agricultural enterprise diversification and income generation, Ongwae noted that the county government has established aquaponics units, a modern technology used in fish production.
“We have spent over Sh20 million to promote the fisheries sub-sector on various projects such as construction of fish multiplication centres, construction of modern fish selling facility, development of local fish feed manufacturing plant, purchase of fingerlings and construction of fish ponds,” disclosed Ongwae.