Migori County has embarked on a digital registration process to capture 176,000 households in a move that will enable the local farmers access government-subsidised fertiliser and other farm inputs.
Migori County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Blue Economy Lucas Mosenda said on Thursday that the targeted households will be placed in a common database for easier identification and processing.
Mosenda said that already the county has trained 442 entrepreneurs to help in the 30-day registration process across the 40 wards.
He affirmed that both the county and the national governments were working together to ensure the process was successful in order to benefit the local farmers.
The county official also acknowledged the plea from a majority of local farmers who have been complaining about the disadvantaged locations of the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) fertiliser distribution depots.
He assured the public, however, that already the county government and the local administration were planning how best to make the fertiliser more easily accessible.
“We have started to engage with the local administration to see if we can distribute the subsidised fertiliser at the DCCs and ACC offices across the county,” said Mosenda.
So far, Migori County has four NCPB depots located at Ntimaru, Suna West, Awendo, and Kehancha Sub Counties, serving the existing 12 Sub Counties of Migori.
Early this year, Migori County and the Kenya National Farmers’ Association (KENAFF) embarked on a registration process to identify and categorise farmers into various value chain clusters with the aim of establishing their population as well as their value chains.
Currently, 33 counties in Kenya have embarked on registering farmers to establish their population as well as to ensure that they fully benefit from the national government’s subsidised fertiliser programme.
By Geoffrey Makokha
