Murang’a County Assembly has adopted a report presenting the agriculture, livestock and fisheries committee’s annual work plan for the 2024/2025 financial year.
The County Assembly Committee on agriculture, livestock and fisheries, through a report presented by the Chairperson, Pauline Muchiri, outlined the specific activities to be implemented, the timeline for implementation, key performance indicators and budgetary allocations for the 2024/2025 financial year.
In the report, Muchiri stated that the committee has allocated Sh54.15 billion to support 57,000 households with one packet of hybrid maize and an additional Sh36 million for planting and top dressing fertilisers.
“The maize and fertiliser programme is already ongoing, and the first run was completed,” Muchiri said.
She stated that other programmes include livestock vaccination for which Sh10 million was set aside for the vaccination of 353,658 cattle, while the fisheries programme was allocated Sh 5.3 million for the construction and stocking of fishponds across the county.
Muchiri backed the propositions, which she divulged had been obtained from the CEC member in charge of agriculture, stating that the report was viable, feasible and would greatly benefit the residents of Murang’a County.
The various programmes that will be executed by the crops, veterinary services and fisheries directorates will be funded by the Murang’a County government.
While supporting the adoption of the report, the MCA for Kahumbu ward, Isaac Chefman, underscored the importance of coming up with effective strategic ways to distribute the maize.
He said that the farmers should be required to present copies of their land ownership documents to prevent giving the subsidies to people who’ll end up selling because they don’t have any land to cultivate in.
“A farmer with a 50 by 100 piece of land has no use for a packet of maize seeds; the quantity of maize seeds allocated to a farmer should be proportional to the size of their land,” he said.
Chefman also appealed to the House for zone mapping in Murang’a in order to know the different factors affecting the yield of maize crops, thereby knowing which type of seed to use and where.
Further, the MCA challenged the committee to carry out benchmarking trips to Wamagana Fish Factory in Nyeri, among other notable fisheries in the country so as to increase productivity and revamp the fisheries in the county.
Township ward MCA Charles Machigo and Mugoiri MCA John Kamwaga, who are members of the committee, also seconded the adoption of the report.
By Purity Mugo and Ndegwa Alex
