Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka has launched a Sh105 million National Agriculture Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) at the Mabanga Farmers Training Centre to benefit farmers across the 45 wards in the county.
The five-year project, which is funded by the World Bank and the county government, aims to increase market participation and value chains for smallholder farmers in five areas of food production that include avocado, dairy farming, banana, poultry, and coffee.
The NAVCDP project will establish 45 ward-based SACCOs to enhance smallholder farmers’s access to affordable credit and transition them from subsistence to commercial farming. It will also support 26 farmer marketing cooperatives.
The project also includes the involvement of 315 youth as agri-pruners to support extension services.
Under the project, farmers have been trained in various community-driven development committees on the management of the programmes under the project.
The governor said that the County Government has prioritised transforming the agricultural sector to be vibrant and competitive, saying it is an important building block for wealth, the creation of employment, and economic growth.
Bungoma CECM for Agriculture, Mr. Herbert Kibunguchi, asked farmers to plant avocados on a large scale as the profit from the crop was high, saying the production of avocados was estimated at 1 million per acre in five years. The crop he said can be sold as export or processed locally.
Mr. Kibunguchi assured farmers of the due support that the department will offer to make sure that this project is a success as it will work towards reviving the cooperatives in the area.
He told leaders of all co-operatives to hold elections of office bearers for proper management of the societies.
By Nelson Musungu and Catherine Nyongesa
