Governors from ten counties in Central Kenya are crying foul over the failure of the government to include several farm products in the list of support through value addition.
Under the Central Economic Region Block (CEREB), they have announced plans to engage the state so that the crops which include avocado and coffee could be added to the list.
The government has identified nine value chains that include leather, livestock, tea, rice, edible oils, textile, construction, mining and blue economy that will be prioritised for financing.
According to the chair of the block Mutahi Kahiga(Nyeri governor), failure by the government to list the main crops from the region could affect farmers and traders.
He identified the missing crops as coffee, avocado, pyrethrum, macadamia, bananas, potatoes, maize and wheat.
“Kenya is the largest producer of avocado and pyrethrum in Africa, the largest producer of macadamia in the world and the fifth largest producer of coffee in Africa but these products are not on the priority list,” Kahiga said.
In a communiqué, the Nyeri Governor said that the Central Economic Region Block contributed more than 28 per cent to the national GDP.
“We shall engage the national government so that the value chains of the identified crops are included in the priority list for financial support,” he said.
Speaking earlier, Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njoki noted that the block was endowed in the agriculture sector but there was little support from the national government.
He pointed to the avocado sector as one of the sectors that are performing well adding that support from the relevant authorities could push higher production.
“Country Kenya is one of the leading exporters of avocado and we should support the farmers through incentives and tax waivers on farm inputs so that they can increase production,” he said.
Muthomi at the same time accused the controller of budget and the auditor general of failing to support the block in their economic engagement.
He said that as a result, they had been forced to rely on donors as they could not set aside funding for various economic programmes in the ten counties.
“We are keen on value addition for our key products which seems to have been forgotten by the government in its plans to support farming in the country,” he said.