Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi excited farmers when he declared that he will move the ministry to the farms where farmers are.
Addressing hundreds of farmers attending the Kenya National Farmers Federation (KENAFF) at Thogoto, Kiambu County, Linturi said he will spend majority of time with farmers in the field.
“Within this short time we have, I will move the operations of this ministry to the farms across the country where farmers are. We will spend our time with farmers until we improve farming for food and nutrients security,” said Linturi.
He said farmers’ are the heart of President Ruto’s government promising to work with KENAFF an organisation he said was represented all the country.
turi said he was happy to note the KENAFF commitment to inclusive growth by having the KENAFF National Youth and Women Summits, as well as having representation from all regions and counties across the country.
He said the Ministry shall leverage the rich and solid KENAFF database of approximately 2 million farmers, to offer targeted services and interventions for farmers in their respective value chains and enterprise location.
This will make it convenient, efficient, and effective to deploy the e-voucher programme, farm inputs subsidies as well as farmer sensitization, mobilization and
He noted that over the past 15 years, KENAFF has been instrumental in the success of many government projects and programmes such as: Kenya Agricultural Productivity Programme (KAP), Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness (KAPAP).
Others are the Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Sustainable Land Management (KAP-SLM), Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP), Smallholder Dairy Holders .
He urged the leadership of the federation to continue to lobby for and nurture a farmer-friendly and sustainable policy, regulatory, and taxation environment that guarantees optimal income and quality livelihoods for farmers.
“I promise a continued partnership between my Ministry and the federation in the delivery of a vibrant agriculture sector envisioned to guarantee food and nutrition security to all the citizens of Kenya,” said Linturi.
KENAFF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Mwenda M’Mailutha said his organisation was ready to work with the government through its bottom up strategy.
He said his organisation has credible data of all its close to 2 million farmers and can provide the critical last mile access to farmers that government and its agencies require.
