Agriculture contributes more than Sh9.2 billion to Siaya County’s economy annually, hence the need to strengthen the sector, Siaya Governor James Orengo has said.
According to Orengo, agriculture, which forms the backbone of the county’s economy, contributes 60% of the local economy.
Speaking during the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) Day in Siaya County, Orengo, who also presided over the issuance of cheques to Cooperative Societies, SACCOs, and Farmer Producer Organizations, expressed his government’s commitment to building a productive, profitable, resilient, and inclusive agricultural economy through strategic investments in farmer institutions, irrigation, value addition, and youth-driven agribusiness.
He said it was high time Siaya residents moved from viewing agriculture as a subsistence activity to recognizing it as a strategic economic sector driven by productivity, enterprise, resilience, and markets.
The Governor noted that Siaya County is leveraging its fertile soils, reliable rainfall, Lake Victoria resources, and hardworking farmers to unlock greater agricultural productivity through organization, investment, and value addition.
Orengo said the county has established Community-Driven Development Committees across all 30 wards and onboarded 30 SACCOs and 13 Farmer Producer Organizations to strengthen farmer institutions and improve market coordination.
Governor Orengo hailed NAVCDP for supporting key investments in the agricultural sector, among them the construction of the Siriwo Rice Mill paddy curing and storage facility, valued at over Sh40 million, and the Kogonga Kayundi Irrigation Project, valued at over Sh29 million.
These investments, said the governor, are not isolated interventions but part of a deliberate strategy to build a modern, resilient, and commercially viable agricultural economy.
”In Siaya, we are struggling to have a transformation in agriculture because for many years, and even now, we are still largely a peasant economy,” he said, adding, “We are working hard to change this situation. With the inauguration of the Siriwo rice mill, this is evidence that we are changing to an industrial, agricultural-industrial county.”
Siaya County Chief Officer of Agriculture Elizabeth Adongo said the county is implementing soil intelligence mapping through the collection of approximately 2,600 soil samples across all wards to improve fertilizer use efficiency, crop suitability and productivity.
Adongo emphasized that agriculture must evolve beyond production to include markets, financing, value addition and strong institutions.
“Production without markets creates vulnerability. Production without value addition limits income. That is why we must emphasize organization, enterprise, and market systems,” said the Chief Officer.
By Philip Onyango
