The World Bank-funded Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Programme, in collaboration with the Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP), has donated 4,000 chicks, brooders, feed, vaccines and medicine in order to empower farmers in Teso South.
Speaking during the distribution of the chicks to the beneficiaries at Asiriam Poultry Park on Tuesday, Busia Deputy Governor Arthur Odera said that the move will help boost the County’s food security.
“We are working on matters that can bring money to the people and food on the table. Let us focus on sustainability in all that we do. We must grow all the time and ensure sustainability so that more people can benefit tomorrow,” he said.
Odera noted that there was a need to create sustainability for the project so that it could benefit more residents.
He also urged farmers to go for the subsidised fertiliser to help them increase productivity as they look forward to distributing cotton seeds to farmers.
Busia County Commissioner Kipchumba Ruto said that the move will help reduce poverty and create employment in the County.
“As national government officers working in Busia, we support the county government in bringing development to this County,” he said.
Ruto urged the local residents to own the project and consult experts in the Agriculture sector for advice so that their project can succeed.
“This is a very rare project and we must support it and ensure that it succeeds,” he said.
He encouraged the local farmers to purchase the government-subsidised fertiliser to grow food crops with a view to enhancing food security.
The CC assured the residents of security and urged them to work closely with the security officers by sharing intelligence information to avert criminal acts.
Ruto noted at the same time that there is a group harassing the residents in Busia town and demanding a 50 percent share of contracts from the County Government.
“We are not going to relent in our fight against them,” he said, adding that some of them have already been arrested.
By Salome Alwanda
