Counties State to set up database for farmers, fertiliser recipientsDevolution PS Micah Pkopus (left) and ICPAK chairman Julius Mwatu address the press in Mombasa on May 23, 2018. Devolution Principal Secretary Micah Powon said Thursday that the State is developing a database for all genuine farmers to weed out middlemen who exploit market gaps to profit from resources meant for small-holder farmers. “We are setting up a database of all farmers who are participating in maize production in our country...so that when it comes to harvesting period, if a farmer is not in the database he will not be considered for uptake of their maize. Higher yieldsHe said the government aims at improving food availability by increasing maize production from the current 40 million bags in 2017 to 67 million bags by 2022. Rice is also set to increase from 112,800 tonnes to 406,486 tonnes and potatoes from 1.3 million tonnes to 2.52 tonnes over the same period.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 24, 2018 10:30 UTC