The Standard ­ Monday
Date: 24.08.2015
Page 8
Article size: 217 cm2
ColumnCM: 48.22
AVE: 115733.33
Cash crops not on deathbed, says
agricultural authority boss
By DANIEL PSIRM0I
55,000 tonnes," said Busolo,
adding: "This just shows that
the production of the crop
is on an upward trend. Pric­
es have also been good on the
Despite the suffering of
thousands of farmers, the man
at the helm of a State corpora­
tion tasked with promotion
and development of agricul­
ture believes that cash crops
market," said Busolo.
He also gave another ex­
ample of pyrethrum farming,
which he said has posted tre­
mendous growth. He added
that in West Pokot where pyre­
thrum does well, they have dis­
tributed free planting materi­
are not on their deathbed.
Acting Director Gener­
al of the Agriculture, Fisher­
ies and Food Authority (AFFA)
Alfred Busolo, said it is not all
gloom in the sector as cash­
crop farming is witnessing
growth and development as
compared to some years back.
"The farming of major cash
crops like coffee, tea, sugar­
cane, sisal, cotton and coco­
nuts among others has im­
proved in recent years. More
farmers are cultivating these
crops because of the good
prices they fetch on the mar­
ket. The whole sector has re­
als worth Sh5 million.
CHEAPER IMPORTS
and others at subsidised prices
in the regions they are grown,"
said Busolo.
"Through a programme
dubbed the 'Integrated Coffee
Produce Project', which targets
farmers in 21 coffee­growing
counties, we have distributed
planting materials to farmers
at subsidised prices. In some
bounded," he said.
of these counties, the farmers
According to Mr Busolo
(pictured), the growth in the
have received the seedlings
free of charge," added Busolo,
noting they have established
nurseries for the crop in the
regions to enable the farmers
get seedlings with elative ease.
different sub­sectors of cash
crop farming can be attribut­
ed to specific and deliberate ef­
forts by AFFA in collaboration
with other players like county
governments to revive cultiva­
tion of cash crop.
"Following the devolution
of agriculture, we have worked
with the counties to improve
farming. We have given farm­
ers seedlings of crops like cof­
fee, tea, pyrethrum, coconut
He further said coffee is the
perfect example of a sector
which has been revived. "Cof­
fee production had dropped
from 170,000 tonnes in the
1980s to an average of 40,000
tonnes about five years ago.
But as we speak, this year we
are producing between 54,000­
Busolo said the parastatal's
efforts to work with farmers
in value addition have borne
fruits, pointing out that this
is evident by the variety of
locally manufactured cash­
crop product brands in shops
and on upermarkets' shelves.
AFFA acknowledged that there
are challenges in the cash crop
sector, particularly the influx
of cheap imports from neigh­
bouring countries. But Buso­
lo says they have trained local
farmers to ensure they remain
competitive.
"Challenges of disease, low
prices and lack of seeds have
been there. But the Govern­
ment has handled this well.
Changes have been there.
Maybe the changes have been
too slow but looking at individ­
ual crop production, certainly
things are better for our farm­
ers," he said.
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