Farmers from Bungoma and Trans Nzoia Counties have been urged to embrace diversification in farming so as to curb the challenges they have been experiencing in the agricultural sector. Speaking to farmers in a meeting at Cheptais in Mt Elgon Constituency Sasini General Manager Mr. James Muriithi said most of the farmers in Western region particularly Bungoma, Trans Nzoia and Kakamega Counties are giving up with farming activities following poor payment.
“Our farmers are tired, some of them have began to uproot coffee stems because the market has really gone down and the payment is not good enough to sustain them, but my appeal to them is that let us plant Macadamia trees in coffee farms after eight years you will be harvesting and it will earn you good money,” said Mr. Muriithi.
He said its only 60% of the farmers in the world plant Macadamia while 40% plant Avocado, and this has made the demand go up. Muriithi added that 40 stems of Macadamia is planted in a piece of land mixed with coffee plantation saying the two plants share the same type of fertilizer and cannot affect each other.
He said Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati and his Trans Nzoia counterpart Patrick Khaemba have fully supported farming of the two plants and they are going to allocate the money in the budget to distribute the seedlings to the farmers at a subsidized price.
On the issue of the market, Muriithi said Sasini Company is ready to buy Macadamia and Avocado products at a very good price that will benefit a farmer.