Bomet County Government has prioritized five agriculture value chains in a move aimed at helping farmers and area residents to reap maximum profits from their produce, besides creating job opportunities.
Through the County Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Cooperatives, the county government is set to facilitate the establishment of value addition oriented programmes in the identified value chain clusters in the county, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP).
Speaking at Boita in Konoin Sub- County, Chief Officer for Agriculture Dr. Kibet Sitienei said that already, stakeholder platforms drawn along the respective value chains have been formed and capacity building training has begun in earnest.
He said that the training was aimed at ensuring the overall success of the value chain by fulfilling the specific functions of production, distribution, marketing, and regulatory compliance.
“These value chains include dairy, chicken, potatoes, pyrethrum and avocado, which have been prioritized in the county and we urge our farmers to continue engaging in agriculture and livestock production,” said Sitienei.
It was in this regard, Siteinei said, that the County Government was embarking on the construction of a modern fresh avocado fruit pack-house to strengthen the avocado value chain in the region.
“Literally speaking, in Bomet County, avocado is the low-hanging fruit with a potential to significantly impact on our local economy, hence the need to enhance the avocado value chain to maximize returns by tapping into local and export markets,” the Chief Officer said.
He added that the identified five value chains for Bomet had a general ripple effect in terms of direct sales incomes, creation of employment opportunities, boost in transport sector and food security.
Sitienei appealed to famers to take advantage and support the government initiatives on value addition for their produce to make it successful in the long run.
He was particularly optimistic on the avocado value chain, saying that while Bomet was doing well in the overall production of avocado, internationally, Kenya was already cutting a niche in the world market.
The Chief Officer observed that in the world market, avocado fruit exports from Kenya hardly competed with other leading producers from other parts of the world like Peru, since the production peak season for Kenya was between July and March as opposed to the annual cycle enjoyed by the other world producers.
This, Sitienei said, called for a deliberate approach in supporting farmers to produce and process quality products, backed by cold storage facilities, for export as prioritized by the County Government of Bomet.
He noted that agricultural producers in the country was faced with challenges including lack of market access, perishability of the products and farm implements access.
The Chief Officer said that the County Government was moving in to alleviate the challenges through the value chains programme and efforts like the construction of the Sh180 million County Avocado pack-house and several dairy milk cooler facilities went a long way.
By Erick Ongeri
