Day: January 30, 2024

Turkana County has commenced reviving various irrigation projects, in a bid to enhance crop production.

Director for Administration in the Department of Agriculture, Livestock Development, and Fisheries, Joram Ewoton, confirmed when he officiated a site handover, for the rehabilitation and repair of the Kangalita/Lojokobwo Surface Irrigation Scheme.

‘Once the restoration of the schemes is complete, farmers will be able to produce adequate food and change the narrative of Turkana, to a food-secure County,’ he said.

He further urged the contractor to adhere to the contract terms and conditions, as the Scheme is meant to benefit hundreds of people who entirely depend on it as their source of livelihood.

The scope of work includes the repair of broken parts of canals along main and sub-main canal corridors, the construction of earth-lined compacted canals, the construction of 10 division boxes with sluice gates, gabions construction at the canal intake for water diversion, and the construction of two footbri
dges and road crossings.

In his remarks, Deputy Director for Agriculture, Emmanuel Esau, called for the timely completion of the project and urged the community, through the Committee and scheme officials, to support the contractor, by working mutually.

The Sub-County, Loima Resident Engineer, Hillary Saina, noted that the repairs will stabilize the riverbed for easy flow and access to water in the canal.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Interior and National Administration, Prof. Kithure Kindiki has exhorted Eastern African Regional Chiefs of Intelligence and Heads of Security, to embrace inter-agency cooperation in counter-intelligence, law enforcement, and crime prevention.

Prof Kindiki noted that the region confronts unprecedented transnational crime, terrorism, cyber threats, and other emerging risks.

‘These threats, orchestrated by criminal entities aim to destabilise our nations, compromise our national security, and undermine the rule of law. Additionally, they cast shadows over our developmental prospects, thus gatherings such as the one we have experienced here, is more essential than ever,’ said CS Kindiki.

Kindiki spoke when he closed a two-day Mashariki Cooperation Conference in Mombasa. The symposium brought together 14 Heads of Intelligence from Eastern Africa, to share ideas and experiences.

The Intelligence chiefs were from Kenya, Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibou
ti, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Seychelles, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The Heads of Intelligence had in-depth discussions and presentations on five major topics; The threat of terrorism in the region and countering violent extremism, transnational organized crime and its evolving nature, regional geo-political and socio-economic threats, emerging threats in cyber space, and harnessing opportunities within the region to combat threats.

Kindiki said the criminal entities represent a pervasive threat, originating in one corner of a nation and steadily growing from there, casting a shadow on not only the affected country but also neighbouring nations.

The CS encouraged the region to unite, fortify the alliances, exchange insights, and devise innovative strategies to safeguard the security and prosperity of the nations.

‘Our collective response must be comprehensive and two-fold. Firstly, it necessitates a concerted effort through multi-agency cooperation within the borders of our na
tions,’ he said.

He went on: ‘This entails breaking down silos, fostering synergy among various law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and ensuring a seamless exchange of information.’

CS Kindiki revealed that inter-agency cooperation has allowed Kenya to leverage the strengths of different institutions and pool resources to defend the country against pervasive threats.

‘Through the constitution of multi-agency teams, we have effectively addressed our country’s most pressing security challenges, including terrorism, corruption, and inter-communal conflicts,’ he said, adding, the collaboration should be extended to national borders.

The Intelligence Chiefs were urged to form formidable partnerships, real-time information and data sharing.

‘Real-time information and data sharing are the linchpins of our collective defence strategy. The timely exchange of intelligence, enables us to stay ahead of evolving threats, facilitating proactive rather than reactive responses,’ stated Prof Kindiki.

National Int
elligence Service (NIS), Director General (DG), Noordin Hajj, said the cooperation formed with the region heads of intelligence, will bear fruits.

‘Together we have planted the seed and when we look closely I think it will start germinating. Our seed is in good shape and hopefully, it will thrive. Now we embark on watering the sprouting plant with confidence and great ambition,’ he said.

The collaboration, coordination, and cooperation between the Heads of Intelligence, DG Haji noted, that it provides a new opportunity to work, trade, and live peacefully together.

‘The benefit of our coming together is most precious; in the gains in security and prosperity for our people. Together, we can look to the future with optimism. Our collective shared ambition is to do more and do better. But today, we are starting from a position of strength,’ he said.

Former CS Amina Mohamed urged the Intelligence Chiefs to innovate all the methods that were used before, to be upgraded.

‘Rule book needs to be up-scaled and sha
red more widely. You will be able to achieve optimally if you are accorded the resources that you need,’ she said.

Source: Kenya News Agency

The Nyeri County Public Service board has promoted 939 employees of the County government.

According to the Board Chairman, Paul Kimondo, the number represents a quarter of the entire County workforce.

The move clears part of a huge backlog of County government workers who have been due for promotion since November 2023. Kimondo noted that the exercise also addresses stagnation for some of the County staff who were last promoted in the year 2009.

‘I am happy to say that this exercise has addressed historical injustices and stagnation of some of our officers, some of whom were last promoted in 2009. These promotions have also addressed succession management issues because certain officers will now be in a position to fit in some new roles of a higher position,’ said Kimondo during a ceremony held at the Wambungu Farm, where the staff were issued with their promotion letters.

Additionally, Kimondo noted that the County will be spending Sh172 million in the 2023/2024 financial year to promote and reward sta
ff.

He said that the promotions had affected officers in all 15 County Departments with the health services getting the lion’s share, where 699 officers were promoted.

According to the breakdown from the Health Department, some of the biggest winners were 254 nurses, 80 clinical officers, 72 Public Health Officers, 63 Medical Laboratory Officers and 61 Medical Officers.

Other County Departments that received a significant share of the job promotions from the board were Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries (77), Education and Training 40 where 34 are Technical and Vocational Education and Training Tutors, and 30 Finance and Accounting Officers.

The enhanced pay perks for the 939 will be backdated to December 1, 2023, and the affected staff are expected to start receiving the new pay at the end of this month.

Speaking, during the ceremony, Kimondo urged the newly promoted staff to double their efforts and improve service delivery.

‘Since this has happened, we as the County employees of Nyeri need to reci
procate the gesture by working harder and smarter to improve service delivery to the citizenry of Nyeri,’ he said.

Also present at the event were Nyeri Governor, Mutahi Kahiga and his Deputy, Warui Kinaniri. Nyeri Senator, Wahome Wamatinga also graced the occasion.

On his part, the County boss revealed plans to set aside Sh35 million in the 2024/2025 Financial Year to cater for additional promotions.

He at the same time challenged the staff to use the opportunity to advance their skills through a series of training opportunities that the County government had lined up for them. Additionally, Kahiga asked the newly promoted officers to improve service delivery to the residents.

‘We have agreed that starting this coming financial year we are going to provide some money in the budget for promotions so that we don’t have people with pending promotions. It is my hope that these promotions will be reflected in the general employee performance of the County staff. It is expected that the employees will be motiva
ted to increase their productivity and deliver better services to the citizenry,’ said Kahiga.

Source: Kenya News Agency

Agriculture is one of the biggest sectors in the country, generating over 20 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a major source of employment in both the formal and informal sectors in Kenya.

However, the raging debate on the use of inorganic and organic fertilizers has been one of the greatest contentious talks and a cause of concern among Kenyan farmers.

The large-scale farmers have continued to prefer the use of inorganic fertilizers, while their compatriots, the small-scale farmers, have heavily relied on organic fertilizers.

Even though the preference of usage between inorganic and organic fertilizers among small and large-scale farmers is wide, each has its own merits and limitations.

Large-scale farmers have always quoted the ‘labour intensive’ as one of the major reasons for inorganic fertilizer usage.

However, according to Migori County Kenya National Federation of Farmers (KEFFA) Chairperson, Peter Chacha, the labor-intensive, term used by large-scale farmers, is a scapegoat for the no
n-commitment to conserving the environment.

He notes that the use of inorganic fertilizer leads to quick yields, but farmers always focus on the advantage, forgetting that it increases the acidity of the soil, reduces soil fertility, and leads to the consumption of harmful chemicals by human beings.

Chacha, a farmer by profession, who cultivates more than 40 acres using organic fertilizer near the Kendege Technical, Training Institute (TTI) in Kuria East Sub-County, says that the usage of organic fertilizer can be by both large and small-scale farmers.

He believes that patience is what is lacking from the large-scale farmers in their daily productive work. Even though the labor-intensive term is used to describe a large amount of labour needed to produce goods and services with a high proportion of labour costs, Chacha notes that motivation and commitment to the usage of organic fertilizer, are what is required to save soil fertility and productivity.

‘Initially I used to plant my crops using inorganic fe
rtilizers that proved to be quite expensive and sometimes unavailable due to the huge demands,’ affirmed Chacha during an exclusive interview with KNA recently.

The farmer who cultivates more than 10 different crops with a maturity period of between three to six months, says that organic fertilizer is quite cheap in the long run, as farming practices are a continuous venture.

He affirms that although the usage of organic fertilizer has a slower rate of crop maturity, the benefits are enormous.

Chacha acknowledges that organic fertilizer helps to treat soil fertility by rectifying soil PH and soil molecular structures.

He adds that the crops produced by organic fertilizers are healthy for human and animal consumption, and user friendly to the ecosystem, and soil conservation.

For a long time in the Kuria region, the cultivation of Tobacco exposed the soils to acidity from the chemicals and fertilizers that were used to grow the crop.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco C
ontrol, addresses on environmental concerns, shows that tobacco crops deplete soil nutrients by taking up more nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, than other major crops.

Chacha stresses that it is important for the nation to adopt proper agricultural farming methods, to ensure prosperity and the success of healthy living is assured.

The KEFFA Official in collaboration with organizations such as Soil Fortify, Sidco, Earthforth, and Kenya Seed Company, has been engaging the surrounding community and students, by organising agricultural shows and demos at his Kendege farm, to teach the importance of utilising organic farming.

He has called upon the education stakeholders in the County to partner with environmentalists and farmers like him, to engage the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) learners, to appreciate farm productivity, through organic fertilizer usage.

‘I will continue to train the communities and learners on the importance of organic fertilizer, to promote healthy living through my kilimo biasha
ra intiative’, says Chacha.

Earthforth Official, Thomas Ogalo, whose organisation deals with soil fertility, has urged farmers to normalize using organic fertilisers in their farms.

Ogalo who is also a soil scientist, disclosed recently that due to high market demand, the majority of farmers are fond of using inorganic fertilizers, because of their fast growth rate without considering its side effects.

He explained that Soil Fortify, whose active ingredient is 6.65 percent Humic Acids based derived from Leonardite on sweetcorn, is an organic fertilizer that can amend the soil and bring back the nutrients that were lost.

Ogalo added that organic fertilizers like soil fortify, are cost-saving because the farmer only applies once, with no need for top dressing.

The soil scientist also affirmed that Earthforth was in the process of implementing modern agriculture products tailored to help CBC learners appreciate, the farming sector in schools.

Source: Kenya News Agency