The National and County governments have been urged to encourage farmers to take up climate-smart agricultural practices to boost food security in the country.
Speaking in Kisumu early this week, Queen Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti said that farmers would realize high yields if they embraced climate-smart agriculture in the wake of climate change, drought and floods.
Queen Máxima visited the lakeside city in her capacity as the United Nations (UN) Secretary General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA) where she held talks with Governor Anyang Nyong’o alongside county executives.
She appealed to both governments and other agriculture sector players to leverage digital finance platforms to bridge the gap, saying that the venture requires funding to support farmers and maximize their full potential.
The Advocate acknowledged the advancement of digital finance services in the country which she noted stands at 80 percent.
She said that the focus should now shift to how farmers would benefit from the services and called on the government to facilitate more support towards the farmers.
Queen Máxima toured various projects funded by the UN and the Dutch government including the Vei Waterworks Sanitation Project in Manyatta and the Hello Tractor Project in Rabuor.
Governor Nyong’o lauded the partnership between the County and the Dutch government saying that the Manyatta Project has assisted residents to access clean, purified water while the faecal sludge is being used to make fertilizer.
He added that the Hello Tractor Project, an agri-tech tractor-sharing application, has connected farmers and bridged the gap between traditional farming and more technologically advanced approaches with the ultimate goal of increasing and optimizing tractor activity and utility across emerging markets.
The digital ecosystem avails tractors to farmers on time and at affordable rates and enables booking, payments and tracking of tractors. It also provides data-driven insights on how to optimize tractor distribution and improve farmer efficiency.
Nyong’o said that they are currently supporting climate-smart farming by training farmers and tractor owners on green practices to support soil-increasing resilience.
By Fredrick Odiero
Get more stories from our website: Sacco Review.
For comments and clarifications, write to: Saccoreview@shrendpublishers.co.ke
Kindly follow us via our social media pages on Facebook: Sacco Review Newspaper for timely updates
Stay ahead of the pack! Click here to purchase our latest newspaper.
