How development of retail markets in Busia County has positively impacted local lives

Busia County Governor H.E. Sospeter Odeke Ojaamong taking oath of office soon after being elected governor in 2013

Being a predominantly agri-based economy, Busia County Government led by Governor Sospeter Ojaamong early in its term in office commissioned a study that identified various bottlenecks to agri-business within county.

As a former Member of parliament in the area, Governor Sospeter Ojaamong was aware of challanges facing local farmers and fishermen and therefore wanted to identify ways through which the county could utilize devolved funds to harness local resources so as to reduce poverty and unemployment whilst stablizing food security and boosting revenues for the country.

As a result of this, and as part of its strategic plan, the Busia County Government made a decision to expand existing retail markets and develop new ones so as to give farmers easier facilitation to markets and to reduces losses resulting from poor handling of agricultural produce.

Consequently, Governor Ojaamong commissioned the development of three fully equiped modern markets in Busia, Malaba and Bumala markets and the development of 1400 modern stalls across the seven sub counties of Busia County.

Governor Ojaamong supported local farmers through procurement of tractors which the county government deployed throughout Busia sub counties to help small holder farmers in tilling of agricultural land.

These were a major undertakings by the Busia County Government intended to have positive socio-economic impact on the entire county. When the projects were conceived, Governor Ojaamong had a vision to not only make Busia County food secure, but also, more importantly, to create an enabling environment for local peasant farmers to effectively farm and profitably market their agricultural produce.

In the longer term, these retail markets would also provide revenue streams for the county government and this is income that could be channeled towards other critical areas such as public health, education and roads.

Today, Busia County boasts as being among the most developed infrustructure in retail markets and one of the county’s with the highest mechanization rates in Agriculutral in Kenya. An additional benefit is that the markets come with cold rooms for the storage of fruits, meat and fish, and banana ripening rooms. As a flagship project, most Busia residents agree that Governor Ojaamong agri-business initiatives have impacted themselves and their families in more than one way.

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