Agriculture market development trust (AGMARK) carried out an agriculture trade fair at Mayanja Kibuke in Bumula sub-county as a means to reach out to farmers and teach them different techniques of improving their yield.
While addressing the media the project manager of AGMARK which is an NGO Allan Mukisira said the main goal of the organisation is to offer a platform where private companies come to educate farmers on the different products they have from animal feeds, drugs, seeds and other agricultural tools.
“We are working with agro-enterprises which provide inputs to farmers to lead to increase agricultural production and also increased income in families.” Mukisira said.
Mukisira added that their other goal is to make Africa a food secure continent as they are in over 15 African countries by making farmers access inputs easily.
He added that by having the trade fair in Mayanja was one of the way to access farmers and it is a way to localize the event so that farmers can easily walk into the trade fair learn and also buy some products.
He urged farmers to seek advice first before buying planting seeds during this planting season as the change in rainfall pattern and climate may cause them to have poor yields.
Some of the exhibitors who included Kenya seed, Pannar seed, western seed, coopers, Eden feeds and even micro-finances were optimistic at the event and were using the opportunity to train farmers.
Ruth Nyesang a representative of Kenya Seed Company at the trade fair said that as an organisation they have ventured into research to ensure farmers increase their yield.
“The number of Kenyans have increased and the land is becoming small and the only way to make this country food secure is by producing seeds that would ensure farmers reap big from their small pieces of land.” She added.
Her remarks were seconded by the head of Pannar seed in Bungoma county Geoffrey Ochieng who said that making Kenya a food secure country is the main goal of the company and also increase income for farmers
Some of the farmers who attended the trade fair thanked the organisers for bringing the trade fair to the grassroots and asked them to be doing so every year.
