Homa Bay County has implored the national government to increase its support to cotton farmers by procuring more BT cotton seeds to meet the targeted acreage of cotton production.
Judith Ombok, the County Chief Officer in charge of agriculture said the county has a gap in meeting its target of increasing the acreage of cotton production to 19,600 acres.
She said the county has managed to put up 6600 acres under BT cotton production and another 5800 under the conventional cotton variety, which is short of their target.
“The national government has immensely supported us in areas like edible oil besides cotton production but we still have a gap in achieving our target,” she said, adding that the government is capable of filling the gap by increasing its support towards attaining the seeds.
Ombok spoke Tuesday in the company of the Principal Administrative Secretary from the Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary Juliana Yiapan, Homa Bay County Commissioner Moses Lilan and other delegates from both the national and county governments during the validation and verification exercise of the status of the various high impact government projects under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
The officer informed that cotton farmers have been able to acquire the costly BT cotton seeds through the collaboration of the national government through the Ministry of Industrialization, the county government and stakeholders like Rivatex.
“The seeds are a bit expensive and not readily available for our farmers. We are trying to support them with the help of the national government to ensure they have sufficient seeds to plant,” she noted.
Yiapan on the other hand lauded the county government for supporting the cotton farmers in its efforts to promote cotton production.
“We have engaged with the farmers who have shared their experiences in the production of cotton. They said with the introduction of the BT cotton variety, they have witnessed an increase in the production of cotton,” Yiapan added.
She noted that this genetically modified cotton variety is very much preferred because it yields quicker and in larger quantities as compared to the conventional cotton.
By Sitna Omar
