Farmers in Uasin Gishu County who embraced high-value crops cultivation since 2014 are now reaping big from the diversification.
Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago said many farmers have harvested and begun enjoying the fruits of the crops that were distributed by the County Department of Agriculture, in an effort to broaden farmers’ economic income base.
The County Government has now made the Agricultural Training Centre (ATC) at Chebororwa, in Moiben Sub- County, a center of excellence tasked with the production of high-value quality seedlings for the region to meet the increasing demand for high-value crops to supply to interested farmers.
Mandago said the Agricultural Training Center is currently producing coffee, macadamia, tissue culture banana, and avocado seedlings which has successfully seen the distribution of about 400,000 coffee seedlings, over 290,000 avocado, and 35,000 macadamia seedlings as well as 17,000 tissue culture bananas to more than 2,000 farmers in the county.
The Governor who was flanked by his Deputy, Daniel Chemno, when he received a task force report on the operationalization of County Service Delivery Entities (OCSDE), said the seedlings produced met international standards and the farmers need to utilize them and fully make use of the new paradigm shift.
On his part, Chemno said the climatic condition in Uasin Gishu was favorable for the production of the high-value crops amid high global demand. If a farmer manages to plant the high-value crops on a 400 acres farm, they can make a turnover of up to Sh700m per year.
In the first year of farming, the farmer can make up to Sh300 per tree and by the end of the fifth year, it is projected the farmer will earn between Sh8, 000 and Sh15,000 to 20,000 per tree respectively, said Chemno.
By Kiptanui Cherono
