There is a need for members of the Lake Region Economic Block to take stock of the achievements and progress made during their annual summit instead of mere rhetoric, the union’s Vice Chairman Kenneth Lusaka has said.
Speaking during the 12th LREB Summit held at Alupe University, Lusaka said that the idea behind forming LREB in 2014 was to pool together all the available resources, identify opportunities and take an integrated approach to all policies and activities across the Lake Region and improve the lives of the local communities.
“What we should be asking ourselves is whether we have a checklist of what we promised to achieve last year and cross check our achievements,” he said.
He stated that climate change was real and there was a need to utilize the ongoing rains for food production.
“We need to come up with strategies that can fit in with climate change,” he said, adding that the region relies on rain-fed agriculture and suffers from famine during the drought spell.
The Governor noted that the cost of production of sugar in Kenya was far much higher than in Brazil.
“We are using obsolete machines and a lot of power,” he said, adding that the region should resort to the use of renewable energy to address issues of agriculture.
Lusaka further stated that Nzoia Sugar Factory spends Sh10 million on electricity but if they were to use solar energy, the figure would be reduced to Sh2 million hence reducing the cost of production.
“We are still using cane varieties that take 18 months to mature while other areas have cane that mature within 11 months,” he said.
The official at the same time said that the local communities needed to diversify what they valued as food.
The LREB CEO Victor Nyagaya said that the counties needed to be holistic in approaching issues affecting the region.
“Despite the fact that we have the biggest freshwater lake in Africa, we still have a number of counties that experience water shortages,” he said, adding the member counties should come up with modalities on how to use water from Lake Victoria into a giant water supply system in the entire region.
Nyagaya reiterated that the region has plenty of rain that should be harnessed especially during floods.
“We need to support the idea of the National Government and we thank President William Ruto for resuscitating the Soin dam,” he said.
Busia Governor Paul Otuoma noted the low level of tree cover in Busia and Siaya counties adding that there was need to take good care of the environment.
Otuoma underscored the need to form cooperatives that would embrace value addition through the County Integrated Industrial parks.
He noted that the country was still importing cotton yet the region has great potential for growing the crop.
This year’s theme of the Summit which runs from November 27 to November 29 is ‘Food security in the wake of climate change’.
By Salome Alwanda
