FARMKENYA INITIATIVE
Joel Mokaya tends to his Hass avocado seedlings that will be distributed to farmers at Kisii Agricultural Training Centre. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]
Bananas and avocados are emerging as the main ‘cash’ crops in Kisii and Nyamira counties, as locals now grow them in large scale where tea and coffee thrived.
Nyamira and Kisii enjoy climatic conditions that favour agriculture. The sector employs more than 70 per cent of the workforce; mainly through small-scale production of food crops using non-mechanised techniques.
However, the region has fast had a change from industrial crop to horticultural production, not only for an increase in overall income per capita, but also for the increasing subsistence production for the growing population. However, with the changing climatic conditions and reducing land sizes, farmers have begun to embrace a new kind of farming.