Over 80,000 small scale farmers in Tharaka Nithi are set to be empowered in the transition from subsistence to commercial farming through increased value addition and market participation under the National Agriculture Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) commissioned by Governor Muthomi Njuki.
The project that engages over 4.5 million Kenyans aims to promote and prioritize food security for every Kenyan through the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and provide farmers with agricultural assets, community-led farmer extensions, water management investments and data driven value chain services.
Key value chains identified in the county include bananas, green grams, poultry, dairy and coffee farming.
According to Governor Njuki, NAVCDP will offer an opportunity to access digital extension services and link farmers to climate smart solutions for improvement of production and make products more competitive in regional markets due to improved access to farm inputs.
He further revealed that farmer-producer organizations and saccos shall have improved access to credit and financial services where KShs 15 million has been set aside for grants for the operationalization od the saccos.
“15 saccos have been formed, 1 per ward, where each ward has farmer a Sacco which will go a long way to improve saving culture for farmers. 15 community development committees with 105 members, 15 landscape management committees with 180 members and 15 social accountability and inclusivity committees with 45 members are also today being revealed”, he said.
Additionally, 15 book keepers to manage the saccos and 105 agri-prenuers to offer farm services, quality inputs, financial services, advisory information, service and link farmers in respective wards were also commissioned.
“I call upon our farmers to embrace technology innovation and transition from substance farming to commercial farming to ensure adoption of best practices and efforts to reduce post-harvest losses. Let us take advantage of such projects to ensure our produce is sold in value added form”, the Governor said.
NAVCDP is also set to facilitate better access to irrigation through Farmer Led Irrigation Development. The project is being implemented within 33 counties spread across 7 geographical clusters.