By Our Correspondent
Over 6,000 farmers in Vihiga County have been awarded Sh43 million under the National Agriculture and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) to support their farming activities.
According to the County Governor Dr. Wilber Ottichilo, the residents should form community groups in order to receive more money from the NARIGP grant.
“I promised development while seeking for your votes. The money you are receiving is a grant, not a loan. I urge the groups to make good use of it for proper value addition,” said the Governor.
The Governor was speaking when he issued the cheques to 540 farmers belonging to 18 groups in an event held in Emabungo ward.
Already 540 groups have received Sh193 million out of the Sh500 million from the NARIGP project which target to give grants to 800 groups.
Pamela Mahila, the County Chief officer at the Department of Agriculture encouraged farmers to diversify their investments for better returns.
She added that her officers will continue giving technical advices to farmer groups on how to engage in productive ventures.
Many farmers also received tree seedlings comprising of banana, gravelia and avocado.
NARIGP project has also supported eleven cooperative societies to a financial tune of Sh11 million which was used to recruit new members and capacity building of management committees.
The cooperative societies in Sabatia and Vihiga Dairy received Sh16 million for the purchase of various assets to support their milk handling and marketing activities.
