Chebororwa ATC Now a Center of Excellence For High-Value Crops

Farmers in Uasin Gishu County who embraced high-value crops since 2014 continue to reap big from the venture.

This has prompted the County Government to make the Agricultural Training Centre (ATC) at Chebororwa, in Moiben Sub-county, a center of excellence for the production of quality high-value seedlings in the region.

Many farmers have harvested and begun testing the fruits of these crops that were distributed by the county Department of Agriculture in an effort to broaden their economic earning base.

According to Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, the Chebororwa Agricultural Training Center is currently producing coffee, macadamia, tissue culture banana, and avocado seedlings which have successfully seen the distribution of about 400,000 coffee seedlings, over 290,000 avocado, 35,000 macadamias, and 17,000 tissue culture banana to various farmers.

Governor Mandago together with his deputy Daniel Chemno, spoke on Monday when he received a task force report on the operationalization of County Service Delivery Entities (OCSDE), said the seedlings produced to meet the international standards, and the farmers need to utilize and fully make use of the new paradigm shift.

Chemno on his part said the climatic condition is favorable for the production of these high-value crops amid high global demand. The crops covering 400 acres, can make a farmer a turnover of up to Sh700m per year.

In the first year, a farmer can make up to Shs 300 per tree and by the end of the fifth and the tenth year, a projection of Shs 8,000 and Shs 15,000 to 20,000 per tree respectively.