Kilifi County government is diversifying the agricultural sector: beef keeping, bee keeping, fisheries, goat farming, dairy farming etc in order to transform subsistence agriculture to commercial farming.
According to the Kilifi Governor Kingi, this is intentional to elevate farmers by boosting their income and achieving food security in the county.
The County government has also made deliberate measures like providing extension services and strengthening the capacity of our agricultural sector to enhance value addition in dairy farming.
Kingi has encouraged the farmers to take advantage of the various agricultural initiatives as a County Government on farm mechanisation, value-addition and agro-processing to guarantee them better profits from their crops and livestock and improve on their income.
The Governor gave these remarks during the distribution of 50 hybrid dairy cattle to farmers’ saccos and Community Based Organisations officiated by the Member of Parliament for Magarini Constituency Hon Micheal Thoya Kingi, the area MCA Hon Edward Dele and the County Chief Officer in charge of Livestock development Mr. Fredrick Kaingu in Sabaki ward, Magarini Sub-County.
Othe initiatives aimed at boosting the local farmers is the introduction of Cocoa Farming in the county.
Last week, the County Government of Kilifi signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on regenerative sustainable agriculture with Kilimo Sasa Fund (KSF) and the Community Agriculture Resources Development Programme (CARDEP).
The project, Cocoa for New and Sustainable Livelihoods (CONSUL), will see the introduction of organic Cocoa farming in Kilifi County as a viable alternative to commercial farming and improve the livelihoods of local farmers.
The wake of coffee farming will serve as a challenge to the farmers on the need to embrace new modern agricultural ventures as the county government looks to add value to their already existing agricultural produce.
Kingi reiterated his commitment to make this project successful by facilitating centres that will be ideal in training local farmers on organic Cocoa farming as well as facilitate the distribution of organic manure to farmers and ensure Kilifi Farmers have a ready market for their produce.