Ndengu cushions Kitui from famine, says Ngilu

A bumper ngengu harvest has lifted Kitui from its traditional status of famine-plagued and food insecure, Governor  Charity Ngilu has said.

“Kitui county for the first time is not among the worst hit by the current famine on a great scale,” the governor said.

She said that the green gram revolution launched by her administration in October 2017 and was successful, as well as horticultural crops.

Her remarks were contained in a speech delivered on her behalf by Deputy Governor Wathe Nzau during a ndengu stakeholder’s forum at the Kitui Kefri Centre on Wednesday.

The governor said ndengu should be included in key crops for the national strategic food reserves. “I am particularly passionate on the need to include ndengu," Ngilu said.

She said her administration had already developed a policy to guide the development of the ndengu sector, which helped fight hunger and produced a commercial crop.

She welcomed development partners help in the aggregation of green grams using collection centres, in enhanced capacity building for farmers on quality and quantity production, in processing, packaging and branding Kitui Ndengu.