Farmers who practice smallholder organic farming have urged the government to support them by offering them subsidised farm inputs to enable them to contribute to national food security.
The over 500 farmers, drawn from 14 Counties, mostly semi-arid, said organic farming has the potential to weed out hunger in dry regions if well supported with farm inputs and extension services.
Led by Ngugi Mutuura, the CEO of the Sustainability Agriculture Community Development Programme (SACDEP), which supports organic farming, the farmers decried a lack of government support despite helping promote the cultivation of healthy foods.
They said while farmers who practice conventional farming have benefited from fertiliser and other farm input subsidies, they remain neglected.
“Organic farming is largely low-cost and can be practiced by all farmers, and that the government should invest heavily in this area to achieve food security, especially in semi-arid areas,” Mutuura said.
They were speaking during an agricultural exhibition at the SACDEP training centre in Kilimambogo, Thika East, yesterday.
Triza Wakesho, an organic farmer from Taita Taveta, said the County has beaten hunger largely due to farming traditional crops.
She said farming tubers and cereals can reduce overdependence on relief foods and called for support from the area County government.
“We largely depend on maize, millet, sorghum, cassava, sweet potatoes, and other tubers due to the semiarid nature of our County. We ask the County government to consider distributing organic fertiliser and subsidised seeds before the rainy season so that we can effectively fight hunger in rural areas,” said Wakesho.
Margret Wangechi said extension officers discourage organic farming, and on most occasions, those involved in the practice have been locked out of agriculture-related forums.
“To be able to actualize the agenda on agricultural production, the government should change its policy and boost organic farming because it’s not only cheap but will bring on board more farmers. This is the case in other Countries,” Wangechi said.
SACDEP commands over 150,000 farmers in 14 Counties and has been training, and equipping farmers with skills to increase food production as well as linking them to markets due to the huge demand for organic foods.
Herman Schut, an international SACDEP partner, said the global increase in demand for organic foods presents an opportunity for poor farming households to increase food and agricultural production and productivity using cheaper organic inputs originating from within the farms.
By Muoki Charles
