Day: September 8, 2024

The Principal Secretary (PS) State Department for Crop Development, Dr. Paul Rono has visited the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) Eldoret to inspect its readiness to receive maize for drying and storage for this harvest season and fertilizers for next planting season

Speaking at NCPB Eldoret the Ps requested farmers who still have maize from the last season to sell it to cereals noting that they have asked the cereals to sell the maize that is in the stores so as to get more space to purchase the next batch.

He said the Ministry has started to give out the tenders so that suppliers can apply and the evaluation will be going on soon to identify which suppliers will supply quality fertilizers and seeds so that they can be available for farmers to purchase them early.

He revealed that the government has arranged that from November fertilizers and seeds for the next planting season will be received in every store across the country.

‘In this short rainy season farmers in Uasin Gishu have been able
to take almost 100,000 fertilizers and that is a good progress as we depend on Uasin Gishu for maize,’ said Rono.

He added: ‘The government has bought a lot of maize from Uasin Gishu, almost 700,000 bags and we have paid the farmers Sh1.5 billion and there is still remaining money that we are still going to use to buy more before the end of the year,’ he noted.

‘I want to thank farmers in Kenya as for now we have received 70 million of 90kg bags which is the highest ever and we are likely to get more going forward in this harvest season and this will help the government to sort out the issue of hunger,’ he added.

‘We have started distributing sunflower to 41 counties and we will be distributing 20,000 kilos of sunflower seeds to Uasin Gishu and the identified farmers should come and collect the seeds to plant after they harvest their maize,’ he said.

‘We have also distributed driers to assist farmers in terms of post-harvest losses we noticed that this country lost close to 30 percent of our produce as a
result of post-harvest related challenges and the government has distributed 100 driers to all our key depots, ‘he said.

He revealed that 20 dryers have been distributed to assist farmers to dry up cereals in the region.

‘We want to make sure going forward we put both fertilizers and seeds in one stop shop to enhance efficiency of government distribution of farm input,’ said Rono.

‘We will still distribute fertilizers at the cost of Sh2500 per 50kg bags as pronounced by the government and I want to encourage farmers going forward that they prepare their farms as the government will do what it entails to ensure there is market for their produce at the same time we will facilitate them also in terms of production and harvest,’ noted the PS.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Organization in partnership with the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports is stepping up advocacy efforts for youths to register groups to benefit from funds from the government and Non-Government Organizations.

The program targets hard-to-reach youths in the slum areas. It is being undertaken in Tudor Moroto, Bangladesh, Kadzandani and Mwakirunge.

The Organization has partnered with the Department of Youths under the Youth Talk program to amplify the voices of the youths in society.

On Friday, it held a one-day sensitization meeting for young mothers and Youths in Tudor that incorporated Equity Bank and TechnoServe Organization through its Blue Biz Program.

‘We realized that there was a great challenge in Tudor. We sought the help of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Creative Economy not just to elevate a single family or a single home where we mapped our Youths Talk cohort one participant but we help the whole community,’ said Derrick Ouko, SFCG Communi
cation Officer

‘I think it is a great deal, it is something that will continue and be sustainable if we strengthen the social safety nets of this locale,’ he added.

SFCG Program Officer Wahida Mohammad said the program has a couple of trainings including public speaking, journalism and peace building.

The young women and youths were trained on how they can register and access funds. The youths are empowered to break the cycle of poverty.

‘Drug abuse is very rampant among the youths as young as eight years, early sex is worrying because it is below eight years, some are molested but it’s being covered up. They later end in drug abuse due to stress,’ said Mohammad.

Maryaam Suleiman, a Moroto Slum Youth Champion and a beneficiary of the program says she has empowered the youths and raised the status of the slum. She can now conduct health and mental health talks.

‘Most of the youths in our slum have mental health issues but they don’t know. When we conduct the mental health talks we support them through co
unselling. We also do advocacy,’ she stated.

Mombasa County Director of Youth Affairs Richard Rwoti said they gave the youths guidelines on how they can form groups and get government funds like the Uwezo Fund, Women Enterprise Fund, Youth Enterprise Fund and National Government Affirmative Action Fund.

‘They will get assistance not only from the government but other organizations too that fund groups,’ stated Rwoti.

He noted that there is an increase in the absorption of funds and many groups are applying for government fund. The youths before they are given fund are trained on entrepreneurship.

‘The businesses that the youths have started are thriving some bought TukTuks, film production, salon and other income generating ventures,’ said Rwoti.

On her part, Wangari Theuri, Senior Program Manager of BlueBiz Program said they aims to create a pathway to dignified and fulfilling work for young people in the coastal region with the objective of alleviating poverty.

They mainly focus blue economy value cha
in like sea weed, plastic recycling, aquaculture and mariculture.

Over the past one year, with support from other partners the program has supported more than 800 young people in the region to access entrepreneurship skills, access to finance and access to leadership

‘We aim to amplify our support to the young people by again bringing on board more than 3000 in the next quarter,’ said Theuri.

She added that they have a youth advisory council that supports them to structure their program to incorporate the challenges of the young people to tailor services that support them to increase their yields, revenue and create jobs.

‘What is key for us is that you have to be a young person with a focus on young women in the community because we believe they are the one who are most affected by the high poverty level in the society,’ said Theuri.

The program has faced a setback of not attracting financial disadvantaged young women. ‘I would encourage them to apply for these opportunities because it is there for thei
r taking,’ she advised.

Source: Kenya News Agency

President William Ruto recently brought fresh hopes to the Lake Victoria fisher folk when he gave out the government’s commitment to install modern fishing facilities worth millions of shillings long the lake.

During his successful tour of the Luo-Lake region counties, the President announced the state’s plans to build several fish landing kits and improve sanitation along the Lake, all the way from Muhuru and Aneko beaches in Migori County to Ngegu, Dunga and Osieko beaches in Homa bay, Kisumu and Siaya counties respectively.

The President electrified the urge of fishermen to redouble their efforts in fishing business by getting assurance that all the myriad problems that dogged their usual chores, one of them, lack of fish storage facilities, would soon come to an end.

For many years, lack of proper storage facilities and modern fishing techniques had become the single most problems blocking fishermen in the region from penetrating the international markets.

Others have been the current big shortage in
fish stock in Lake Victoria, increased arrests and harassment of Kenyan fishermen by authorities from Uganda and Tanzania over alleged tress pass offenses and, the intensive exploitation by middle men.

Lack of modern fishing techniques for post-harvests and use of illegal fishing gears have resulted in a remarkable decline in fish quality and production from the fresh water Lake.

In Migori County alone, fishermen from the Lake’s Muhuru, Aneko, Sori and Migingo beaches have always cried about the stringent consumer requirements by the European Union (EU) on the quality of fish extracted from the Lake.

The EU has in past years slapped a ban to Kenyan fish to access its markets on reports that the product from the country lagged far below the recommended standards

‘Requirements for high quality fish at both local and world markets and, limited access to storage facilities are locking out most fishermen from venturing into large scale fishing business,’ said a beach management unit (BMU) official, Mr. Willis
Okello.

Speaking by phone from Muhuru bay, Mr. Okello said the assurance by the National Government to install high-tech cold rooms along the beaches to help them preserve their daily fish catch would boost their efforts to export quality fish to the international market.

Improved road infrastructure to all the Lake beaches, as also promised by the Kenya Kwanza Government, would also open up fishing business in the region, said Mr. Okello

President Ruto announced an elaborate road construction from Mbita to Sori to Magunga and to Muhuru Bay, a ring road connecting the Lake shores to Migori town and to Nairobi, in a move to open up accessibility from the Lake region.

Over and above, Okelo now wants the National and County governments to seriously provide cleaning facilities to help improve sanitation on all the beaches to meet the EU standards.

But speaking from the area early this week, the group of fishermen said despite the government’s efforts to help the area meet the EU health standards, there are s
till gray areas that need to be corrected.

‘The problem of irresponsible open defecation is still going to affect the fish quality if not addressed soon. Lack of good toilets within the lake beaches is leading to massive pollution of the lake thereby,’ said Mr. John Owiyo, another BMU official from Migingo Island.

Mr. Owiyo also claimed the local fishermen are earning very little from their business as a result of unscrupulous middlemen who take advantage of the high perishability of their fish catch.

‘The middlemen, mainly of the Somali Origin, usually wait until very late in the afternoon when they come with their refrigerated trucks to buy our fish at throw away prices,’ he said.

The fisher communities also want the Kenya government to stop the Tanzania and Uganda authorities from arresting and snatching from them their fish catch and fishing gears worth millions of shillings every day on flimsy accusations of trespass into foreign waters.

The fishermen said fishing activities remains undisputed their
economic backbone and should be supported at all costs to thrive by the two levels of governments.

Last year Migori County produced fish worth over a one billion despite the numerous hurdles facing this sector.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) officers have started piecing together forensic information that will reveal what transpired at the Hillside Endarasha Academy on Thursday night as the State appealed for time to conduct investigations.

In his address after visiting the scene of the fire tragedy, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said that the head of State, Dr William Ruto, had ordered expeditious investigations into the incident that claimed the lives of several pupils and left scores of others with injuries with the DP adding that the findings of the inquest would be made public.

‘We have specialized teams from the DCI who are working here for now and that is why we are asking to be given time. The president has ordered expeditious investigations and that is going on and when the report is ready as a government we shall make it public. At this point we don’t want to impute guess work, we just let the investigators do their work,’ said Gachagua.

Initial reports indicate that the fire broke
-out on Thursday night at the boy’s dormitory that housed 152 pupils. According to the DP, a total of 70 students from the institution remain unaccounted for while another 27 were in hospital.

‘There were 311 pupils who were in the boarding school. One passed on in the hospital and indeed, 86 their whereabouts are known. We still have 70 kids that are unaccounted for but that doesn’t mean they are perished or they are injured, the word is they are unaccounted for,’said Gachagua.

The DP has at the same time appealed to parents who picked up their children from the school and members of the neigbouring community who gave refuge to pupils escaping the night inferno to make a report to the number 1199.Gachagua said that the National Government Administration Officers and the Red Cross were teaming up in tracing the missing children.

‘I am appealing to each and every parent who took their child from here to report to the Red Cross and the school so that we know where that child is. We are asking community membe
rs who have given comfort to those children to report the same. That will help us to account for each and every child,’ he said.

This as emotions ran high on Friday evening after parents were finally allowed access to the scene of the Thursday night fire tragedy. The parents had spent the better part of Friday holed up in one of the classrooms where the Red Cross Society provided counseling. At one point, the anxious parents most of whom had not been reunited with their children had threatened to match the scene which had been cordoned off by the investigating team.

‘We are about to embark on another painful exercise of allowing parents to visit the scene. We are taking them there to help them begin the process of closure,’ said Gachagua.

The county government also re-organised its medical services department to help coordinate rescue operations and provide treatment of the victims. According to Nyeri governor, Mutahi Kahiga,the Mount Kenya sub-county hospital was designated as the trauma and accident ce
ntre for the incident. Kahiga said that Naro Moru Level IV hospital would be used by the DCI officers for any forensic investigations.

The County Government and the Red Cross Society are working together to take everyone through counselling. There is also Triage being done to see whether the pupils who need urgent medical attention. We have put on high alert our doctors and our ambulances are on standby to help contain the situation,’ said Kahiga.

Source: Kenya News Agency