Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe has praised the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro) for its efforts to develop new climate-resilient crop varieties and increase agricultural productivity.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of the Kilimo Biashara Expo in Thika, Kagwe congratulated Kalro for developing new crop varieties that adapt to climate change, saying they are unavoidable.
The CS said the agenda of the expo was to equip farmers with innovative skills to navigate their farming practices.
“Essentially, what we are doing here is communicating with the farmers. We want to bring science down to the users of science,” Kagwe said.
He said Kalro is conducting extensive research to ensure farmers attain higher yields even with little land.
“They are also researching to ensure higher productivity per unit, so that if you have been producing 3,000 tonnes of rice in an acre, we want to take that to 4,000 tonnes,” Kagwe said.
The CS encouraged young farmers to invest in farming, noting that they do not require a lot of land but innovation to ensure productivity.
“So the idea here is to try and increase productivity and encourage the farmers, particularly young farmers, to see that you do not need a lot of land to make some serious money from farming,” he said.
Kagwe praised the exhibits at the expo, saying it underscored the potential of high yields even in limited land.
“If you look at what they are exhibiting here, you can tell that it is possible to farm on fairly small areas and make money,” he said.
Kagwe encouraged the farmers not to look at farming as just a practice but as an investment.
“Farming is a commercial activity. Farming is money. For too long, people have related farming to poverty. Farming is not for poor people,” the CS said.
“In fact, if you look around you, and you see where farmers are growing stuff, those people don't look poor at all.”
Kagwe said, regardless of the size of the land one has, farming is essential to the provision of food and improving livelihoods.
“We can feed ourselves, and we can make money out of small areas that we have in our households,” he said.
