The County Government of Uasin Gishu has raised a red flag over the increased fragmentation of agricultural land.
County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture Edward Sawe says over the recent years, farmland has been fragmented, a practice he says poses a threat to food production.
Sawe notes that with Uasin Gishu being a key country’s food basket, there is a need for agricultural land to be protected from fragmentation and sub-division.
“We have a major challenge of land fragmentation. Farmers have been fragmenting land which leads to soil erosion and makes it difficult for them to use modern machinery,” the Agriculture CECM noted.
“Farmers need to stop that,” he added.
A Census of Commercial and Institutional Farms and Specialty Crops survey released earlier this year by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) ranked Uasin Gishu as the top agricultural county having the highest number of farming land parcels.
It was followed by Kakamega and Trans Nzoia Counties.
Organic farming
There have however been concerns that some farmers now preferred converting their land to commercial use due to poor prices for their produce and the high cost of production.
But as a mitigation to address some of the challenges farmers are facing, the Agriculture executive has challenged them to embrace organic farming.
He argues that the use of DAP fertilizer for a long time has had a negative impact on soil acidity – hence time to shift to organic fertilizers.
“I am also asking farmers to practice crop rotation which helps in reducing notorious weeds in the farm and diseases,” Sawe advised.
He spoke at the Pastoral Centre in Eldoret during a farmers’ meeting.
