The government has put in place measures to make sure Muhoroni, Nzoia, Sondu, and Chemilil sugar factories get back to real business so that they can provide livelihoods to the people of the region and the country as a whole.
The Principal Secretary, State Department of Agriculture, Dr. Paul Rono, said that the government had also put in place plans for the farmers and workers who were owed money by the factories to be paid in the next three months.
The PS was speaking during the official opening of a five-day pre-Madaraka day exhibition at Kibabii University in Bungoma, primarily focusing on agriculture and food security in the country.
Concerning the tea sector, Dr. Rono asked farmers to be careful and elect leaders with integrity who can turn the tea sector around during the oncoming elections for directors. “Farmers want value for their money,” he said.
He noted that top-dressing fertilizer had been released to all farmers in the country, pointing out that the delay in the distribution of the fertilizer had been occasioned by heavy rains that led to floods and prevented the movement of the trucks to various regions of the country.
Unfortunately, the country lost close to 60,000 acres of crop to the floods experienced in the country three weeks ago, which affected 10,000 farmers. As a mitigation measure, the government has established an emergency programme that will assist these farmers in recovering from the loss.
On the low-quality fertilizer that had been supplied to farmers, the PS said that the government had compensated over 95% of the farmers and that the rest were being sought and would be compensated.
The five-day exhibition has attracted 283 stakeholders from the agriculture sector.
By Catherine Nyongesa
