We have the land, now let’s grow wealth for all

Q: How do you plan to turn Machakos into a food basket?
Only about 20 per cent of the arable land in Machakos is utilised for agriculture. We plan to increase it to 70 per cent so that the amount of food produced is high. We’re excavating dams and pans to provide steady water for horticulture. My government is donating chicken to youths and women to ensure every homestead has meat and income y to buy food. These combined measures will ensure we are well-placed to feed Kenya and beyond. I am impressed by how Malawi turned around its food production and also how Australia, which is mostly arid, is self-sufficient.
Last November, you unveiled 40 tractors for ploughing farms free of charge. How many more acres have you brought under cultivation three months later?

We are still quantifying the numbers, but at the pace we are moving we should have between 180,000 to 260,000 new acres under cultivation by end of this year.

What agribusiness investment opportunities are there for the Machakos youth and other Kenyans within and outside the county?
Our kienyeji chicken project and horticulture (we are providing greenhouses to village groups) will empower the youth because they can sell their produce and have a regular income. My government has also set up a system to market the produce by our farmers and we are about to enter into agreements with India and some Middle East countries on this.
What plans do you have for the fruits sector, especially mangoes?

Adding value by processing fruits is our main strategy. We have already partnered with USAID for mango drying in the county. The dried mango will be sold as snacks which are very popular in the European market.

The Machakos investment programme has already attracted investors who will soon put up fruit and juice processing factories. Look out for juice made in Masaku.

But much of Machakos is also a vast sea of dry wasteland and decades of sand harvesting have further degraded it?

Sand harvesting is a challenge. We are about to rollout a programme to reclaim our land and have started controlling what has been an erratic business of sand.
What are your plans for water and irrigation?
When it rains in Machakos, it pours. We plan to harvest the water through village dams and pans and that water will be used for village-based irrigation. The Athi and Thwake rivers also have large potential for irrigation and we are currently studying how to utilise them.

When can we see the first export from your grand projects?

Our motto in Machakos County is to drive out Mwolyo — food aid, within the next two years. We intend to do this through a subsidy programme; diversification of farming, a robust extension service; value addition; and marketing structure. By the end of this year, we expect Machakos to start its journey to self-sufficiency

How many farmers have benefited from your free seed and subsidized fertiliser programme?

A: In the last planting season, we targeted 1,000 needy farmers from each ward, each getting 8kg of free seed. We have 40 wards; this means we supplied 320 tonnes of free seed. We recognise that it is important to apply fertiliser in our farms if we expect to optimise production.

Most fertiliser costs between Sh3,000 and Sh3,500 in the open market, but we have subsided ours to Sh1,500 per 50kg bag. More importantly, we have engaged specialists to do soil mapping for our county so that we will be able to know what fertiliser blend is good for each area.

You had undertaken to distribute two million chicks to farmers in the first six months of the year. How many birds have you given out so far?

We are targeting orphans, poor widows, and the most poor. We have 247 sub-locations, and in the first phase we will take 20 beneficiaries from each sub-location, and give each 100 week-old chicks and veterinary advice and care.

When the chicken are mature, we will buy them from the farmers, do basic processing in slaughter slabs in the wards, and send them to the processing plant at Machakos town that will develop various products for sale to make money for the beneficiaries.