Farmers
Farmers at Keekonyokie Ward in Narok East Sub County have called on the Narok county government to purchase modern farm machinery that will ease their farming activities.
Musa Kirimbi, a village elder said farmers use a lot of money to cultivate their land and harvest the farm produce, which translates to lesser profits. He observed that the area is a rich agricultural zone where farmers plant huge plantations of maize, barley, wheat and beans hence the need to have modern equipment to make their work easy.
“I farm at least 40 acres of maize and wheat. This forces me to hire many casual labourers on the farm which is very expensive. If we get machinery from the county, we can hire at a cheap price and make more profits,” he said. Another farmer Ms Catherine Shakai disclosed that sometimes the casual labourers do not do a perfect job which leads to losses.
“During harvesting, you find that a lot of maize is left in the shamba because the casual workers are not keen to collect everything. Other times, the same people working for you can steal the farm produce without the farmer’s knowledge,” she said. She observed that purchasing farm machinery like tractors and combine harvesters is very expensive for a single farmer, and especially the small scale farmers who get little profit from their farms.
“People in this area depend on agriculture to earn a living. We request the county government to purchase farm machinery which we can hire at a subsidized price,” she continued. They spoke at Entashata area during a farmers’ field day that was organised by CAMCO equipment Kenya Limited, where modern machinery was displayed to the farmers.
Narok Chief Officer in charge of Cooperatives Shadrack Sambaya asked farmers to form cooperatives that will enable them purchase such machinery. He lauded the modern way of farming saying it is more effective and efficient as the farmers get more returns than the traditional way of farming.
“Our main duty as a department is to ensure that the farmers come together, get the necessary training that will make them succeed in their endeavor,” he added. Amos Wekesa, the branch manager CAMCO equipment Kenya limited said they do not only sell the machinery in the show rooms but move to the fields and assist farmers to use the machines.
“We have solutions for farmers. We are here today to demonstrate our products free of charge because our main goal is to ensure farmers get more profit from their labour,” he said.