Siaya County Commissioner Jim Njoka today launched the training of chiefs and their assistants from all over Siaya for timely registration of farmers to help give farmers subsidized fertilizer before the onset of long rain season.
The registration of farmers is set to be done by the assistant chiefs in collaboration with village elders and officers from the county government to ensure all eligible farmers benefit from the program.
This follows the recent presidential directive for the creation of a digitized national register to curtail frauds and rogue traders who have been posing as farmers.
Previously, the government fertilizer subsidy programmes were plagued by hijack by unscrupulous traders who accessed and resale the subsidized fertilizers at inflated prices.
A total of 388,000 metric tonnes of various types of subsidized fertilizer for the 2023 long rains is to be distributed nationwide to ensure targeted farmers reap the benefit of reduced prices without middlemen under the government’s e-wallet mode of disbursement.
“I am appealing to you chiefs to uphold high levels of integrity, make sure you give us accurate data and do not cheat particularly on the acreage,” said Jim Njoka.
The training of the administrators for the registration programme is scheduled to take place from 7th to 15th of January 2023.
By Calvin Otieno
