Kitui County Commissioner, Mr. Erastus Mbui, has advised the county residents to engage in massive food production in the wake of heavy rain in the county so that they can reduce their cost of living.
The County Commissioner urged the residents to embark on serious farming in both crop production and massive livestock rearing for improved food security across the county.
Speaking on Tuesday while presiding over this year’s Jamhuri Day celebrations held at Kaluva Secondary School in Kitui East Constituency, Mr. Mbui underscored that the county has a suitable climatic condition for crop production as well as livestock production, and therefore, with the ongoing heavy rainfall in the county, local farmers should embark on serious farming to bail out the residents from the recurrent food shortages faced upon failed rain seasons.
“We are currently experiencing heavy rainfall across the county, and I do advise our local farmers to engage in serious farming in both food production and rearing of livestock to ensure the county is stable in food security and subsequently be self-food sufficient thus avoiding the high cost of food at the markets,” said the County Commissioner.
He lamented that the monthly government support and food aid rations being given to starving families were too little to effectively address the increasing numbers of starving families.
“However, the high demand for the food can be resolved through engaging in serious farming for mass food production during successful rain seasons, such as the current ongoing October-December rain season,” added the County Commissioner.
He noted that the cost of living can only go down once all of the residents are engaged in food production and other productive activities meant for national building since the government depends on its citizens for the generation of its revenue through taxation.
Commenting on the high cost of government services, especially the increased charges for acquiring a national identity card, the county boss advised the residents to have safe custody of their national identity card to avoid the high charges of its replacement once it is lost or misplaced.
He observed that citizens should be responsible for safeguarding their documents once issued by the government, and therefore, high charges for the replacement of lost documents will make citizens cautious as well as instill a high sense of discipline for safe custody of the important documents by their respective owners.
On security during the coming Christmas and New Year holidays, the County Commissioner, who is the Chairman of the County Security Committee, urged the residents to embrace peace and harmony.
He appreciated the local community for coexisting peacefully and appealed to them to continue maintaining peace during and after the forthcoming Christmas and New Year festivals.
He said that security officers would be deployed across the county during the festivals to ensure peace prevailed. He called on the residents to cooperate with the security officers and report suspects who attempt to threaten their peace during the festivities.
By Denson Mututo
