Nyamira County Governor John Nyagarama has asked the public to embrace Gravelia tree planting and avoid the common eucalyptus species.
Speaking during an event of officially launching the National Irrigation Consultancy workshop in Nyabomite on Tuesday, Nyagarama urged farmers and the public present to prefer gravelia trees compared to eucalyptus trees that use a lot of water.
"My government has been closely working with the National irrigation Board. This project by the NIB is the third and successful project. We also recognise the role of agriculture in the county as most of our land is agriculturally potential," he said.
"As a government, we have spearheaded planting of gravelia trees that use less water, and we discourage from planting eucalyptus trees that really draw a lot of water from our fertile soils," added Nyagarama.
Nyagarama also highlighted potential agriculture area coverage in the county with 80 per cent fertile land classified for agriculture, while 20 per cent lies arid and poor land marked for irrigation.
Nyamira County has 18,524ha, which are potential irrigation zones, according to Nyagarama.