Pyrethrum farmers from Nyamira County have challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to take an initiative to resurrect the pyrethrum industry that was once a cash crop in the region.
Speaking on Thursday near Omoyo primary, the residents said the industry collapsed following mismanagement of the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya.
They urged the president to put more resources to the industry besides calling for payments owned to farmers by the PBK, which have allegedly remained unpaid for 10 years.
“The pyrethrum sector has remained in darkness and the President hasn’t shown any interest to revive it. We are urging him to put more resources to the sector and ensure that farmers are paid since we haven’t been paid the debts owed since the sector collapsed in 2005,” said Alloys Mwancha on behalf of the residents.
According to them, many farmers were willing ton revert to pyrethrum farming if the aforementioned outstanding issue issues are solved since the tea sector is said to be crumbling.
“We are very ready to revert to pyrethrum since it was the leading sector. Most of us turned to tea farming following the crumbling of the sector and now we want to leave because the tea sector isn’t doing well,” he added.
The crop can be hardly be found in Nyamira County after the farmers uprooted it in protest before embarking in tea farming.