Residents of Vihiga County have been urged to embrace and join cooperative societies in a bid to improve their living standards and be empowered economically.
In an interview with KNA in his office on Thursday, Vihiga County Cooperative commissioner, Francis Kisia called on residents to join and embrace cooperative societies which will empower them economically and improve their living standards.
Kisia said there are 197 registered cooperative societies out of which 102 are active calling on those that are inactive to become active so that they can tap and make use of the rich resources in the county.
“I encourage all the inactive cooperative societies to wake up and serve residents because this will help improve their living standards and they can also borrow loans and venture in development activities,” said Kisia.
He said the total membership is 30,333 with a share capital of Sh. 81Million and deposits of Sh. 230Million and total loans of Sh. 205Million.
The commissioner added that the cooperative societies are in various categories including SACCOs, coffee, soya, banana, dairy, Housing, handicraft, mining, piggery, transport, vegetables, poultry, consumer, multipurpose, horticulture, mushroom, hibiscus, worker cooperative and farmer market.
Kisia said those in agricultural based societies can access farm inputs through their cooperatives, which will shield them against the hard economic times.
By Maureen Imbayi
