The Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP) has been commended for their extension services that enabled at least 12000 farmers in Nakuru County scale up their production and earnings drastically.
The Nakuru County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture Leonard Bor said the programme has spurred improved returns for the 133 farmers’ groups targeted by the project majority of whom were engaged in the dairy, pyrethrum and aquaculture value chains production.
While touring the Nakuru West Sub-county to assess the implementation of the ASDP programs, he said the county government was keen on strengthening working relations with development partners to empower agricultural cooperatives to boost food production and skills among farmers.
Bor said the ASDSP, which is now in its second phase was one of the key programs designed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives, and the 47 county governments to address food and nutrition security in the country.
He noted that the program which is implemented by the National government and all the counties is financed by the Swedish Government Development Agency (SIDA) and the European Union (EU) for a period of five years.
Additionally, he said the program was designed to enhance the capacity of different priority Value Chain Actors at various levels to tackle the problems that hinder the commercialization of agriculture in the country.
Apart from that, the CECM said low productivity, characterized by the irregular supply of traded commodities along the value chains, has been identified as one of the key barriers to the commercialization of the sector.
Also, he said in order to address the challenges, ASDSP seeks to support men, women, and youth in the prioritized value chains to increase their productivity through interventions that focus on service providers, and organizations that deliver critical services to the agricultural actors.
Finally, he revealed that today’s tours across the value chains that are supported by the ASDSP program were a preparation for a visit by the project funding partners from the Swedish Embassy to the county next week.
By Veronica Bosibori
