Women and youth in Busia have been urged to grow high-yielding crops such as the genetically modified BT cotton to boost their income.
Farmers who planted the cotton variety in June said the crop is maturing fast, and they expect to get good cash when they harvest.
Nambale subcounty field officer Maurine Adhiambo said more needs to be invested to convince women and youth to grow the cotton variety.
“What I want to tell people is that BT cotton has come to help us all and from our visits to the villages, we have seen that there are more men involved in the project. If there are youth and women interested in planting cotton, they should visit our office because right now, we have seeds which we are giving out to farmers,” she said.
Gregory Wadenya, a field officer from Wahyco Kenya, said they have two types of seeds, including BT cotton as well as non-BT cotton seeds, although both varieties are hybrid.
“In Busia county we were given 290 kilos of BT cotton as well as 2,680 of non-BT cotton hybrid,” he said.
He said 20 per cent of all the seed supplies to Busia were delivered to Funyula because the subcounty has an operational ginnery.
“Our farmers have started planting. The planting season starts from June to August. In one acre, a farmer can get between 1,000 and 2,000kg compared to between 400 and 500kg that farmers used to get with local cotton breeds.”
Wadenya said BT cotton is protected against the bollworm which destroys the crop.
“With BT cotton, when bollworms come, they die on their own. This is a plus for farmers because they will not spend a lot of money on buying insecticides to spray on cotton plants,” he said.
Farmers Okuku Juma and Francis Opailo from Matayos and Teso South subcounties, respectively, called on the county and national governments to speed up the revival of collapsed cotton ginnery to assure them of a ready market.
Agriculture CS Peter Munya launched BT cotton at Alupe University in Busia on March 9 when he said at least 100 farmers would be picked from the county to pilot the project.
The commercial farming of the plant is projected to ensure farmers earn more from the crop through increased production.
Edited by A.N
