Wajir governor launches Sh59 million agriculture kitty

Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdulahi before the Senate committee on County Public Investments and Special Funds at KICC, Nairobi on May 17,2023. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has launched a Sh59.7 million Agriculture kitty.

The kitty will be distributed to 239 groups with each receiving Sh250,000 which is equivalent to 4,785 households.

A further Sh25 million micro-projects grants will have 3,700 beneficiaries who are organized into 185 Common Interest Groups (CIG) which is under the Emergency Locust Response Programme.

According to Abdullahi the grant will go a long to help the residents who largely depend on livestock production to kick start agricultural production.

"Wajir County is proud to be one of the beneficiary counties under the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP), a five-year, Government of Kenya project under the NEDI initiative," said the Governor.

He said that the disbursement was one of the many plan that his administration has in place to boost the agricultural sector.

He said that they are targeting five thousand Hectares of land in the County for crop production adding that the farmers will receive mentorship and support from professionals in the field.

He promised that his administration has plans in place to purchase tractors for each of the eight sub counties to aid crop production.

The County Finance CEC Farah Saman said that they are seeking to help residents shift from pastoralism to farming.

"We thank the county for the support, the harvests are helping us gain an alternative source of income," Abdi Ismail who is among the beneficiaries said.

According to Abdullahi the adoption of farming for the livestock keeping community will help them mitigate suffering the undergo in the event of drought that often ends killing their animals.