Migori County government has started the third phase of farmers’ registration in a bid to help them access government-subsidized fertilizer through e-vouchers and other agricultural extension services.
Migori County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture (CECM) Lucas Mosenda said that the mass registration aims to capture 100,000 households up from 64,000 households that were registered during the first and second phases in 2023.
Mosenda said that the registration will help to provide an accurate database that will give the accurate number of farmers in the county, the enterprises they are involved in and their enterprise locality for easier planning in terms of production and market chain links.
The County official also disclosed that this financial year the county is set to avail more than Sh 15 million for the purchase of seeds to help farmers in the county.
The funds will help to purchase seeds for maize, beans, sorghum, rice, cotton, and sunflower to help boost the agricultural activities in all 40 wards in the county.
In the 2022/2023 financial year, Migori County provided Sh3.6 million for the purchase of seeds to the local farmers across the county.
Mosenda also assured the county farmers that they were working on a plan to bring the subsidized fertilizer closer to the residents. He said that the county will soon start to work with agro-dealers across the county to reduce the travel costs and expenses that the farmers have been subjected to.
Currently, the county farmers can only access the subsidized fertilizers from the four National Cereals and Produce Board depots (NCBP) that are located in the Sub Counties of Migori, Awendo, Kehancha, and Ndimaru.
He, however, acknowledged that some farmers have been complaining about the brokers and cartels in the distribution chain of the subsidized fertilizers at the four depots who have been taking the fertilizers and reselling to the farmers at a higher cost.
“We have information that some individuals have taken advantage of the long queue being witnessed in our depots to resell the fertilizers to our farmers”, stated Mosenda.
He pointed out that the county has engaged the county security team to help investigate the matter to ensure only the deserving farmers get to access the fertilizer at the earliest time.
By Geoffrey Makokha
