Garissa to prioritize agriculture to reduce food insecurity and increase crop production.
Garissa Governor Nathif Jama has said his administration will this financial year focus on value addition of agricultural products and bringing more land across the county under irrigation so as to eradicate food insecurity and poverty and achieve sustainable development.
Speaking after touring various farms supported by the county ministry of agriculture, Governor Nathif said that trading in unprocessed agricultural products has cost farmers in the county a lot of money as well as costing youths jobs. He added that when value addition like packaging and processing is met, farmers in the county and the entire region would eventually move out of poverty by getting better prices for their produce.
The governor said his government would spend at least Sh. 100 million in developing access roads to the various marketing centres in the county as well as expedite plans to build a modern Soko Muqdi farmers market to offer a better environment for farmers to sell their wares.
This is on top of providing farmers with free extension services, farm inputs like seeds, fertilizers and water gensets for irrigation.
“We are also providing training and demonstration to our farmers on the best agriculture practices to use at the Garissa Farmers Training Centre which has been revamped and all our farmers are trained for free,” he said.
The governor called on youths in the county to adopt agriculture as a source of livelihood saying the county would incentivise those who took up agri-business by providing start-up loans.
