By Bisola Adeyemo
Farmers in Elgeyo Marakwet County in Kenya have been encouraged to embrace diversification of crops production to boost farming activities in the region.
Nephat Maritim, a government relations and policy analyst at One acre fund, gave the advice while speaking with KNA on Monday.
One acre fund is a nonprofit organization which supplies agricultural services to more than 400,000 farmers in 23 counties in Kenya.
In his advice, Maritim tasked all farmers to divert into horticulture because relying on planting of maize and potato alone will deny farmers the opportunity to fully exploit the production capacity of their farms.
He stated that all farmers could also venture into high-value crops such as vegetables, passion fruits even fish farming which takes short periods but are high on returns and it will boost their incomes
“Let farmers diversify into horticulture, dairy farming, among other agricultural produce so that there is a continuous source of income instead of relying and focusing on one crop,” he said.
He therefore advised farmers to seek advice from field staff from one acre fund as well as agricultural extension staff on how to commercialize their farming.
