Rice production in a multimillion irrigation project in Homa Bay County has got a boost after farmers acquired tractors for ploughing their farms.

The farmers using Kimira Oluch Smallholder Farm Improvement Project (KOSFIP), located in Karachuonyo and Rangwe constituencies have received the tractors from Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA).

The two tractors are aimed at helping the farmers to plough their farms on a large scale.

Distribution of the tractors came after the farmers complained that they had been restricted to small scale crop production due to lack of mechanization of their farms.

Karachuonyo MP Adipo Okuome and LBDA Managing Director Wycliffe Ochiaga handed over the tractors to the farmers at Nyakongo Village in Karachuonyo Constituency.

Ochiaga said their aim is to empower farmers to enable them to grow  rice on a large scale.

“We have brought these tractors for the sole purpose of empowering farmers to grow rice on a large scale. We have picked rice as our main value chain in this project,” Ochiaga said.

He said they were also partnering with other agencies for providing the farmers with rice seeds.

“We work with KALRO and other agencies to provide the farmers with good rice seeds. I urge the farmers to take advantage of the subsidised fertilisers and grow rice in large scale using this project,” Ochiaga added.

He assured the farmers of the market for their produce.

“We have already installed a rice milling machine in Kisumu. Let the farmers shun any worry,” he added.

Okuome said the project will enhance the creation of employment opportunities for residents. Okuome added that the project will also enhance food security in the area.

“Anybody who shies away from crop production is calling for malnutrition and death. It is through crop production that we will alleviate food shortage in this area,” Okuome said.

The MP urged residents to shun misuse of water in the irrigation project.

“Previously, some people were using the irrigation water for the wrong purposes. I want residents to change their attitude and use the water for growing crops,” Okuome said.

Farmers expressed high hope in the initiative.

According to George Aoko, a farmer, most of the farmers operating in the irrigation scheme could not utilise their land effectively due to lack of tractors which could plough the farms.

“Accessibility to mechanization has been a serious impediment to many farmers who yearned to increase the scale of rice production. These tractors will be a sigh of relief to us,” Aoko said.

Johanes Oluoch, a farmer, said the tractors will enable them to increase the scale of production.

“We are grateful for the distribution of the tractors and these will give us the morale of scaling up our production,” Oluoch said.

Source - www.standardmedia.co.ke