Nakuru governor Lee Kinyanjui hands over pyrethrum seedlings during a farmer's field at Chadera, Molo on Friday. He is set to host an inter county agricultural forum on the crop in two weeks. [Photo: the-star.co.ke]
Nakuru county will be the point of convergence as governors from 18 pyrethrum-growing counties will be meeting in two weeks time to deliberate on ways of reviving the sector.
The event whose exact date is however yet to be made public,will also include agriculture departmental heads and other sector players.
The meeting will be hosted by Governor Lee Kinyanjui who said that it will as well give the stakeholders a chance to explore other key interest areas in a bid to create a stronger regional economic bloc.
He said that the forum will also look into ways of eradicating poverty among residents, especially those from agricultural areas.
''It is regrettable that poverty levels are still high in agriculture-rich areas, we want to lift our people out of poverty. We will work as a team complementing each other,'' he said in his office according to the Star.
''If we revive pyrethrum farming then we shall reduce poverty and our economy will have a boost.I want to assure you that we shall work closely with the other stakeholders to ensure this is achieved,'' he added.
Pyrethrum production was a booming sector back in the 70's but has since deteriorated as a result of factory debts,resulting to massive lay offs leading to a good number of farmers abandoning the crop for other products.