Nandi Governor Stephen Sang has urged locals to invest in agriculture to ensure the region has adequate food security
Speaking at the Kapsabet showground during Nandi County Agricultural Field Day and exhibitions themed ‘Promoting Climate Smart Agriculture and Trade Initiatives for Sustainable Economic Growth,’ Sang said farming is the backbone economy of the county and through agriculture; job opportunities will be created.
“Apart from reclaiming our previous position as the breadbasket of our nation, as a county, we also want to contribute to the overall stability of the Kenyan economy by ensuring that we import less and we export more so that we can stabilize the Kenyan shilling,” he said
The governor said agriculture stands as a cornerstone for economic growth calling on farmers to embrace modern farming technologies to increase food and milk production
The second-term governor noted that initiatives like field days and exhibitions serve as platforms to bridge the gap between traditional practices and innovative technologies adding that his administration will assist farmers and teach them new farming techniques to ensure they reap maximum profits from their produce.
“Most of my flagship projects like the Milk processing plant in Kabiyet, Coffee mill factory in Tinderet, Avocado pack house, and modern chicken slaughter house among others are nearing completion and we need raw materials. Let us work with extension officers to ensure we increase our production and move from primary production to value addition,” said Sang
The multimillion Nandi Dairy Cooperative Factory, one of the largest in the North Rift region is expected to process over 200,000 liters of milk per day while the chicken slaughter house which is located within Kapsabet town has a processing capacity of 500 birds per hour.
According to the governor, it will be discreditable for the plant to be forced to source milk from other countries due to low milk production.
According to statistics, in past years in Nandi, milk production has gone down due to poor animal feeding programs with the governor calling on various stakeholders to work around the clock and ensure dairy farmers adopt new farming techniques like Artificial Insemination (AI) to get quality breeds and increase milk production from the current average of 5 liters’ milk per cow to around 15 liters per cow.
Stakeholders present urged farmers to double their efforts and increase food production to protect the governor’s legacy and ensure various factories established have adequate raw materials.
By Linet Wafula
