Is Real Estate Development The Unavoidable Evil In Kiambu/Murang'a?
Syngenta East Africa Ltd’s Mt. Kenya Region Sales Manager
Mr. John Muguro said that as investors took advantage of the sudden shift in
land use to real estate development, the disappearance of productive
agricultural lands has in turn affected food security, economic growth and derailed
the revival of agricultural business industry in the region.
Speaking to the press at the Eton Hotel in Thika on Tuesday
when launching their Engeo insect pest control product to the region’s
distributors and stockists, Muguro said that it was worrying to see farmers
downing their farming tools and choosing to sell their large tracks of land to
realtors, turning the once dependable food baskets into consumers.
“High demand for residential and commercial properties in
Kiambu and Murang’a counties is posing a threat to the development of the
agricultural sector. The two regions have for many years has been a hotbed of
production of a variety of wide range of food crops and dairy. But over the
last few years most of the farmers who depended on farming as a source of
livelihood are slowly turning their backs and tools away from the trade. With
the price of a plot of land increasing with every day that passes, the poor
farmers are opting to make some quick bucks to toiling all their lives on the
farms for peanuts,” said Muguro.
However, he said that this in turn was opening new areas for
farming which would never been exploited. That is where Syngenta comes in
to partner with the farmers through their agents to maximise productivity and
ensure that farming reclaimed its lost glory.
He added that by training the distributors, they were sure
to maximise productivity and quality of the produce from these regions. Their aim,
according to him, was basically to get areas such as Kiambu and Murang’a back
where they were before when the country depended on them for food production
and export of cash crops.
Syngenta has been assisting farmers via exploiting greenhouse
farming to maximise land use, providing them with quality crop variety breeds
and also improving on the their pest control products.
“This is where products like Tylka (an improved tomato breed)
and Engeo come in. Engeo lessens the number of pesticides the farmer
needs to use for insects control. It is very safe to the user and the produce
is safe for consumption after just three days,” he concluded.
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