Muguka farmers in Embu County have been challenged to join existing Saccos to reap better incomes and enhance expanded marketing of the produce locally and regionally.
Consolidation of the millions of shillings earned from Muguka sector daily under cooperatives would ensure that incomes from the business are not wasted but used to improve farming and management of the enterprise.
Incomes from Muguka, the stakeholders said, could be used to promote education in the region where some schools lack the necessary infrastructure and also school leavers access to higher education remain a challenge.
Stakeholders in the sector also asked the farmers to encourage young people especially school leavers involved in Muguka business to join Saccos and self-help groups to ensure profits from the cash crop are prudently managed.
Led by the chairman of Mbeere Muguka Sacco Limited Josephat Njue, the stakeholders insisted that the crop should be treated as a key income earner of the region not to be abused by the youth through chewing the stuff for hours.
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The stakeholders said they had launched campaigns to educate the youth on the various types of Muguka and its effects on the people who chew it in a bid to reduce abuse which has hindered youth in achieving education goals.
Muguka, Njue said should be respected as the leading cash crop especially in Mbeere South with its herbal medicinal qualities apart from being a stimulant to encourage hard work and avoidance of idleness.
Farmers in the sector, Njue said, should come together and establish ways to get various pesticides into single shop owned under the Saccos to ensure prices remained affordable unlike the case presently.
The farmers, he said, through the Saccos also have potential to invest in acquisition of trucks to transport the commodity to various parts of the country such as Mombasa, Garissa and Isiolo among other regions where the stuffs is transported by private lorries.
‘’We can come together to establish our own wholesale shops under the management of Saccos for pesticides, water pumps, spray pumps and other items and that way make savings,’’ said Njue.
Mbeere Muguka Sacco remains one of the most successful entities dealing with the product and has been involved in major campaigns to market the produce and remove some of the negativities linked with the crop.
Muguka markets led by Muraru Trading Centre in Mbeere South remains one of the most vibrant commercial centres of the crop attracting more than 1500 farmers who deliver more than 100 tons of the product every day.
At least 10 lorries transport the stuff from various markets to various outlets outside Embu County everyday but the incomes generated daily mainly go to non-crucial needs including partaking of alcohol.
By Robert Nyagah
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