By: Robinson Barasa
Most western regions such as Kakamega, Bungoma and Busia are well known as backbone of agricultural production in Kenya. Mostly, bare lands in these regions are owned by farmers from humble backgrounds. They continuously apply traditional methods of farming; it is good at some extent but may not be proper for high quality production. Besides, most additives used such as manure provides nutrients at a slower rate to the crops compared to modern fertilizers.
On the other hand, farmers from these regions only rely on rain. The government should emphasize on irrigation to reduce over-reliance on rain fed agriculture in the face of limited high potential agricultural land.
The government should also encourage diversification-(the act of introducing a variety of products.) into non-traditional agriculture commodities and value addition to reduce vulnerability.
It should facilitate the farmers to produce new farm inputs and enable them to sell their products in market. Villages should be linked with mandies – (more local markets)
The government should also employ well trained specialists to educate the farmers on different methods to adopt modern methods of farming in these regions.
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