As short rain season starts at the Coast, farmers in Tana River, Kilifi, and Kwale counties can sigh with relief after they were issued with tonnes of seeds to plant.
Apart from getting the seeds in an initiative that is being run by Bayer East Africa, the farmers will also get special training on how to plant and nurture their maize to growth.
Speaking in Kilifi town where they launched their seeds distribution in the county, Bayer head of sales John Kanyingi said the organization has been distributing seeds in several parts of the country as a mitigation measure towards addressing food security.
The flag-off was witnessed by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, county agriculture executive Luciana Sanzua, and chief officer Fredrick Kaingu.
“We thought it wise that while every other company was giving flour during the covid pandemic, we decided to give seeds which then the farmers can convert into their own flour. We could have given them the five hundred shilling which is the price of this packet of seeds but that flour would not last even more than two days. But when we give them this seeds, the same can result in farmers getting even ten acres of maize,” said Mr Kanyingi.
Mr Kanyingi said the seeds given to the farmers is best suited for the region because it can withstand short rain season.
“We are only giving seeds to nine counties and Kilifi, Kwale and Tana River is among the counties we have chosen for this program. We are proud because with this we are also addressing food insecurity. The support we get from farmers in this region is good and today we are donating these seeds worth Sh8 million and we hope that it will go a long way in addressing food insecurity,” he said.
Governor Kingi thanked the organization for their efforts as it will go a long way in addressing food insecurity.
“We are happy that you choose three of the counties from this region. As Kilifi we have received 30 tonnes of these seeds worth Sh8 million.
The issuance of these seeds is timely because when we were hit by the Covid pandemic, many farmers did not have money to buy maize seeds. We had to buy 50 tonnes of maize and green grams which we distributed to farmers. That helped us in addressing food situation,” he said.
