Governor Mohamud Ali Pledges On Agriculture Livestock And Fisheries.

• Primuses Made (Marsabit County Governor)
• 2 Years, 1 Month ago
• 347

Governor Mohamud Ali Pledges On Agriculture Livestock And Fisheries.

Irrigation Infrastructure and schemes

There is no established irrigation infrastructures or scheme in Marsabit because of the limited potential of areas that can be put under irrigation. However, the government have planned for mega dams for water storage, primarily for household water consumption but secondarily can offer potential for flood-based farming/ spate irrigation in selected sites. Currently, in isolated locations there are greenhouses and drip irrigation applied to produce fruits and vegetables. Scaling-up of irrigation require, community mobilization; survey and redesign of irrigation scheme; installation of irrigation systems and capacity building of staff and farmers on adoption of irrigation farming methods.

1.11. Crop, Livestock, fish Production and Value Addition

1.11.1. Main Crops Produced Crop production in Marsabit County does not thrive well because of erratic rainfall and increasing incidence of recurrent droughts. There are however some areas around Mt. Marsabit and in Moyale sub-county where crop farming is practiced during the rainy seasons. The population working in agriculture is estimated to be about 2 per cent. Main cash crops grown in the county include fruits and vegetables, maize, teff, beans and millet. Fruits grown include oranges, avocados, banana and mangoes. Khat (miraa) is also grown for commercial purpose in Saku Constituency and part of Moyale. Miraa is grown for commercial purposes while fruits trees are produced mainly on a small-scale and for domestic consumption and for sale in local markets.

1.11.2.Acreage under Food Crops and Cash Crops The total area under food and cash crop production is 5,060 ha. However, the county has great potential for crop production with an area of 1,582,750ha being arable. Much of the area is underutilized due to erratic climatic conditions.

1.11.3.Average Farm Sizes The average farm size in the county is 0.8ha while farms with title deeds are approximately two per cent. The farms are concentrated on mountain regions of Saku and Moyale constituencies. The rest of the land is communally owned grazing areas.

1.11.4.Main Storage Facilities The main food storage facilities include bags and wooden granaries found in urban centres. In addition, there are a few modern stores such as silos owned by the National Cereals Produce Board (NCPB) located in Moyale and Marsabit towns. The facility at NCPB store cereals, fertilizer and seeds for sale to farmers and for relief food distribution by government and development agencies. 1.11.5 Agricultural extension, training, research and information services (available training institutions, demonstration firms’ multiplication sites etc.) In the county, agriculture extension services are mainly provided by the county government, and research and training institutions, and also by the civil society organizations, such as non-governmental organizations, faith based organizations and community-based organizations. The extension services are provided through i) demand driven and beneficiary led approach, ii) indigenous knowledge and technologies sharing, iii) cost sharing with beneficiaries and iv) networking/collaborations. Farmers and livestock keepers are reached through various extension approaches such as trainings, on farm demonstrations, field days, trade fairs/exhibitions, exchange visits/ tours and training of livestock keepers in grazing areas. In the past, the government SECOND COUNTY INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2018-2022 14 had a demonstration farm in Sagante ward which served as a learning farm where various farming approaches and technologies are show-cased. This however, does not existing now and related ideas would be good for the on-site learning by farmers. The county also work with research institution like Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KARLO) to generate and apply knowledge in specific context.

1.11.6.Main Livestock Bred Livestock keeping is the main economic activity in Marsabit County. The main livestock kept include approximately 420,000 cattle, 2,029,490 goats, 1,851,452 sheep, 217,360 camels, 81,900 donkeys and 45,860 chicken. There are 5,890 beehives/apiaries in the entire county. The main livestock products are milk, beef, mutton and camel meat.