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More than 70,000 smallholders farmers in Murang’a have received certified maize seeds and fertiliser in a bid to increase productivity and turn the county into a food basket.
Governor Irungu Kang’ata led the month-long seeds distribution to registered farmers in the villages.
Speaking at Muruka market in Kandara, Kang'ata said the programme is designed to ensure farmers increase maize production and save them the cost of transporting the produce to the neighbouring counties.
“ During the farmers training exercise by agriculture experts, only 55,975 farmers turned up , but at the time of distribution of the input the number of those interested rose to 77,000,” he said.
The governor announced that the farmers will be free to sell their maize to Joy Maize Millers or another dealer for not less than Sh3,500 per 90 kilogrammes bag.
“We have numerous agriculture programmes that include Inua Mkulima, sorghum farming, mango farming all designed to benefit the local farmers,” he said adding that they have a partnership with the Joy Maize Millers.
Mary Wambui, a farmer, said the certified seeds will ensure increased production after years of using fake seeds sold cheaply in the markets.
“We have been using fake seeds from the shop but now the county government has availed to us the best seeds sourced from the research institutes,” said Wambui, a mother of two.
Jacob Mwangi, a resident of Kangema, noted that the seed varieties distributed by the government are suitable for the local climatic zones.
“We have been buying bogus certified seeds from the shop and we focus on high yield in the future,” said Mwangi who lives in Nyakahura village.
County Agriculture CEC Kimani Mugo revealed that the local farmers have been trained and crop monitoring will be continuous until the crops mature.
“The programmes are designed to ensure the locals have enough food as the government invested Sh33 million to procure certified seeds from Simlaw Seeds and Karlro,” said Mugo.
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