Siaya County government is set to begin data collection for farmers in the region with the view to supporting productivity to enhance food security.
Speaking during the conclusion of a three day training for 110 enumerators in Bondo sub-county, the area Sub-county administrator Mr. Vincent Kanyangonda said the data would help the county government in planning and budgeting for farm inputs necessary for boosting production.
The 25 days exercise which commences on Friday September 22 will see enumerators visit farmers in their homes to inquire about the acreage of land and number of animals owned among other key variables.
Kanyangonda disclosed that the data collection exercise was at the heart of the “Nyalore” government led by Governor James Orengo who is committed to ensuring that not only Bondo but the entire Siaya county is food secure.
The sub-county administrator disclosed that the enumerators would use the national government structure like chiefs to reach the farmers and asked the farmers to cooperate with the enumerators.
He indicated that after the data collection and creation of farmers’ data base in the region, farmers would be trained on productivity and that the county government intended to reduce cost of farming through subsidizing cost of hiring tractors and seeds.
“The county government intends to transform agriculture in Siaya to agribusiness to create wealth and employment and the entry point will be to boost production by training farmers while we continue subsidizing the cost of production on the farm inputs,” Kanyangonda stated.
The area sub-county supervisor under the exercise dubbed Siaya county comprehensive farmers’ registration mapping and profiling Eliakim Bonyo Ambajo assured members of the public that the data collected would not be used for any other purpose besides planning.
“I know many farmers will be hesitant to give information about what they own for fear that the information would be used to tax them. I want to assure that we have no power to tax anybody and that the data collected will be used to determine how much fertiliser or seeds and tractors are needed in the region as currently the county government is operating blindly making it difficult to plan and budget.
The comprehensive farmers registration mapping and profiling is a national exercise that would be conducted in 45 counties save for Nairobi and Mombasa through a collaboration between the National and county governments.
By Brian Ondeng
