Vihiga Governor Dr. Wilber Otichilo has said his government is going to place more focus on agriculture to increase food security in the area. During his first County assembly address, Otichilo said most of the food commodities locals consume, come from the neighboring Counties despite the good climate the region experiences.
Most of the food commodities brought in from other regions are maize, beans, wheat, millet, vegetables, and milk among others.
He said in order to curb this the County government is going to pump in funds to help address the adoption of agribusiness, dairy farming, and fish farming.
The Vihiga County boss said agribusiness is the way to go noting that subsistence farming has led to the shortage of food in the area.
“We want to encourage residents in this region to embrace agribusiness, and the County government through the Ministry of Agriculture has plans to engage extension officers in various departments to take their services closer to the people if we have to achieve this,” said Otichilo.
He added that there is a ready market for the commodities and the only thing to be done is to empower the locals on good farming methods and the best crops that perform well in the area.
Otichilo said fish farming is picking up in the County and advised the Fisheries Department to engage other relevant organizations to improve fish farming in the County.
“The Fisheries Department must come up with better programs that are going to help improve fish farming in the County, and this can be achieved if they engage other like-minded non-governmental Organizations,” said Otichilo.
The other area he said must be worked on is dairy farming encouraging locals to do zero grazing on their small farms.
“Locals here do not own large parcels of land and am urging them to try zero grazing on their small farms, if we do this, we won’t be forced to get milk products from other Counties,” he said.