Trans Nzoia County government has procured 25 motor cycles to boost field extension officers in the county.
Speaking during commissioning, County Agriculture Chief Officer Robert Musikoyo said 20 of the motorcycle will go to 20 wards under the (NARIGP) programme and five will go into monitoring of Agriculture products going in and out of the market across the county.
“The motorcycles will go a long way in ensuring that farmers get extension services hence boost agriculture in the county. This has been a challenge in the whole county for long,” Mr Musikoyo noted.
The chief officer said extension officers in the department of Agriculture have been experiencing difficulty in reaching out to farmers whenever they have issues on their farms.
Musikoyo asked agriculture officers to ensure that they use the motorcycles for the intended purpose of serving the farmers of Trans Nzoia County to get the best extension service.
With the challenges of the high fertilizer prices in the country Musikoyo called on the farmers in the county to register with the wards and sub county Agriculture officers in order to benefit from the national government fertilizer subsidy program that is expected to be launched very soon.
“Through the program the farmers will be expected to contribute 40 per cent of the fertilizer prices while the government will cater for the remaining 60 per cent,” Musikoyo said.
The Agriculture chief said this is going to cushion farmers from the burden of high farm inputs prices.
Musikoyo also said that the county government, through the ward specific fund, has procured 5626 bags of subsidies Baraka planting fertilizer for the farmers worth Sh 33,750 Million that is expected to be distributed to farmers in the wards.
By Kosuri Valarie
