National Treasury and Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u has urged Nyandarua residents to form cooperatives that will enable them to practice value addition and market aggregation for their produce.
Speaking during the launch of the National Tree Growing and Restoration campaign in Geta ward in Nyandarua County, Ndung’u said that it was only through the formation of cooperatives that farmers in Nyandarua would benefit from diverse markets in and outside the country.
“Make markets work for everybody and more so for the poor. Once markets are working we are going to improve productivity and production downstream and what we are going to see is increased income then we can invest the surplus. This can only be achieved by the formation of cooperatives,” said the CS.
He at the same time he asked the residents to be taking care of the trees they planted to ensure they reach maturity. He added that mitigation against climate change is both an individual and collective role.
On his part, Principal Secretary for Transport, Engineer Joseph Mungai, who had accompanied the CS during the tree planting exercise, lauded the efforts put in place by Nyandarua residents in restoring forest cover and promised to ensure that the roads in the region will be rehabilitated.
The PS said that from next year, he will visit the county and prioritise the rehabilitation of the roads that have been a hindrance to the farmers when moving their produce to the markets.
Dr Benjamin Kinyili from the Kenya Forest Service urged the residents of Nyandarua to practice agro-forestry which will ensure food security.
He also asked those living around water catchment areas to increase tree cover so that they can increase water generation which is majorly consumed by the wildlife downstream.
Over 8500 seedlings were planted in Geta ward. This is part of a national campaign that targets growing trees- a new concept away from the traditional model of planting- for conservation, food security and economic development.
The ten-year programme seeks to grow 15 billion trees, restore 10.6 million hectares of land and improve national tree cover to 30 per cent. Nyandarua’s tree cover stands at 27 percent and is among the highest in the country.
By Antony Mwangi
