More than 600 farmers across the 25 wards within Vihiga County have received indigenous vegetable seeds from the County Government of Vihiga through the Department of Agriculture.
While addressing a section of farmers drawn from Vihiga Sub -County at the County headquarters, Vihiga Governor Hon. Dr. Wilber Khasilwa Ottichilo encouraged the farmers to embrace Agri-business, a move he said has improved agricultural production in the County.
“When I took over office, farmers used to harvest 8 sacks per acre but as we speak, the number has improved to 15 sacks per acre.My target is to make Vihiga the leading County in Kenya when it comes to production of indigenous vegetables,” said the County boss.
Dr. Ottichilo also said that the County had spent more than Kshs. 300M to more than 800 groups across the County through the NARIGP project.
Chief Officer in charge of Agriculture, Dominic Luvavo on his part stated that the seeds distributed include Black Night shed (Lisutsa), Spider plant, Cowpeas, ‘Livokoi‘, ‘Tsimboga‘, ‘Mitoo‘, Brachiaria among other types.
Apart from the indigenous vegetable seeds, the Agriculture Department also distributed 101 cows to farmers in 8 wards under the ward-based program.