Tharaka Nithi County government in partnership with Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme, under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives donated various equipment to farmers to boost the agricultural sector in the region.

They handed over milk ATMs, automatic packaging machines, fermentation tanks, deep freezers, batch pasteurizers among others that will enhance the capacity of different priority value chains to solve the problems hindering commercialization of agriculture in the area.

Speaking during a forum held at Itugururu Research Institute, County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture Njue Njagi said that one of the initiatives of the government is to support farmers within the county to boost productivity in the sector.

‘The county government supports farmers in Tharaka Nithi through provision of necessities such as machines to increase production of farm products,’ he said.

The CECM urged farmers to put the machines into good use in order to improve their livelihood as well as the agricultural sector.

On his part, Chuka Sub-county Agricultural officer Daniel Kamaru cautioned the farmers against the current armyworms outbreak causing hazardous effects during the farming season leading to huge losses.

He encouraged them to practice scouting, a method that helps farmers to detect the worms early to prevent them from spreading.

‘The worm feeds in the funnel of the crops like the maize funnel or banana funnel mostly at night. In order for a farmer to detect the worm they should practice scouting in their farms,’ Kamaru said.

He further advised them to use pesticides and constantly weed their farms to kill the worms.

Source: Kenya News Agency