Farmers in Homa Bay county have been urged to form cooperatives and invest in acquisition of machinery for value addition of their produce.
County Commissioner (CC), Ronald Mwiwawi, said value addition will fetch the farmers maximum returns for their produce.
He said Kochia division was producing high quality pineapples, which could be processed and packaged as fruit juice thus benefiting the farmers.
Mwiwawi noted that Rachuonyo East Sub-county was also producing high quality sweet potatoes, which could be processed and sold for maximum returns.
The Administrator made the remarks, yesterday, during the launch of a milk cooler donated by the National government to Kochia farmers cooperative society.
He told the farmers to adopt modern farming methods and keep pedigree livestock, to produce sufficient quantities of milk to utilize maximumly the cooler.
Mwiwawi expressed concerns over rising cases of suicide in the area and urged the residents to embrace counseling, when facing challenges.
He raised concern that drug abuse amongst the youth, especially the use of bhang had reached alarming levels.
“We must come together to fight the bhang menace as well as production of illicit brews. We are going to crack down ruthlessly on the perpetrators.” he warned.
Mwiwawi told the youth to embrace the culture of savings and investments to uplift their lives.
He said that the County was endowed with minerals like gold which the residents can exploit for their benefit, but only if they avoid conflicts.
The Administrator said the government had beefed-up security by conducting constant patrols by vehicles and on foot.
Kochia farmers Cooperative Society Chairman, Bishop William Abuka, thanked the government for the donation and said that the Society will install CCTV cameras in the cooling plant to boost security.
He assured that the residents were fully backing the President’s efforts to develop all parts of the country.
The launch was also graced by the County government Chief Officer for Livestock, Bernard Omwanda who encouraged farmers to vaccinate their animals and to use Artificial Insemination, to improve their breeds.
By Davis Langat
