SPEECH BY THE GUEST OF HONOUR, HON. KIRAITU MURUNGI, E.G.H, GOVERNOR, MERU COUNTY

DURING THE 2018 A.S.K MERU NATIONAL SHOW ON 6TH TO 9TH JUNE, 2018 AT THE MERU SHOW GROUND, THURSDAY, 7^TH JUNE 2018

The A.S.K National Chairman, Mrs Annabella Kiriinya

The C.E.O, Mr Batram Muthoka

The Meru National Show Committee Members,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Let me take this opportunity to thank the organizers of this event for inviting me. I am delighted to be here today and to share this occasion with you. I commend the Agricultural Society of Kenya for putting this annual event together. My government will support your efforts to promote trade and agri-based investment opportunities through this event.

Agriculture is one of the top priorities for my government. We have invested heavily in this sector not only to guarantee us food security but also to increase household incomes. I am very happy with this year’s theme; ‘promoting innovation in agriculture and trade’ because it emphasizes the importance of innovation in agriculture as a means of achieving food security.

Currently, the largest age group of farmers in Meru County comprise men and women with over 55 years. This ageing population of farmers pose a threat to the future of agriculture industry in this county and to food security. I am sad to note that majority of young people are shunning agriculture for white collar jobs despite the fact that those jobs are hard to come by nowadays. This has resulted in high levels of unemployment, apathy and helplessness among the youth. The reason why we have so many youths struggling with alcoholism and drug abuse is because despite their levels of education they are all attracted by the allure of white collar jobs. Young people see agriculture as an unprofitable venture. They shun it because all the hard labour does not translate into good incomes. We have to package agriculture differently for it to be attractive to the young people. We have to make it profitable and even without further incentives they will venture into it. I urge all the farmers present here today to mentor young people in order to shape the future of agriculture and food security in this country. Indeed, the Jubilee Government’s Big Four Agenda on food security will not be realized unless it is centered on the young people.

My government through the ministries of agriculture and youth affairs will soon roll out a very comprehensive youth in agriculture programme which seeks to encourage youth people to employ themselves and others through agriculture. My Government is promoting food security through the Ndengu Pesa initiative. This year we distributed 130 tons of ndengu and we expect a harvest of over 10,000 tons. We intend to distribute 1 million avocado seedlings and 1 million macadamia seedlings to our farmers.

We have to abandon the old agricultural practices which are labour intensive and low yielding and adopt modern technologies in agriculture from farm preparation to post harvest management. We must embrace high yielding and disease resistant crops and livestock for sustainability of the agriculture industry in Kenya.

Value addition to agricultural products is also very important to this industry. In addition to ensuring farmers derive maximum economic benefits from their products, it also creates employment. This year I launched a sweet potato value addition factory in Maua which is processing sweet potatoes into 11 products including bread and cakes. My government is in the process of identifying partners to help us establish other agrifood processing factories for potatoes, fruits and bananas.

The future of agriculture is in irrigation. With the increasing population and erratic weather patterns we can no longer rely on rain fed agriculture. I urge farmers to adopt good irrigation methods that do not interfere with soil fertility. My government has prioritized provision of water not only for domestic consumption but also for agriculture. This week we shall launch our 100 boreholes per year project which will see 100 boreholes drilled and commissioned in the dry parts of this County in the next 100 days.

With the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation we are excavating 500 small dams and water pans in the same areas and I am happy to report that this project is going on well. We believe that these interventions will promote agriculture and enable us to feed the nation.

Let me also commend the financial sector including banks, SACCOs and insurance companies for supporting agriculture industry. I urge you to develop innovative products for our farmers including affordable loans for farm mechanization and input financing.

Finally, let me commend the cooperative movement for your contribution in agriculture industry through buying, collecting, processing and marketing of farm produce. In the recent past, the movement has faced numerous challenges leading to its near collapse but I want to assure you that my government will not let that happen. We shall support you and help you address some of the challenges affecting the cooperative movement including governance issues. We have established a directorate of cooperative affairs under the ministry of Trade, Tourism and Cooperatives dedicated to cooperative matters.

It is now my pleasure to officially open the 2018 Meru National ASK show!

Thank you.

Kiraitu Murungi

Governor, Meru County