Bungoma residents have been urged to embrace poultry farming as a way of minting cash.
Speaking in Bungoma during a meeting with poultry farmers on Wednesday, Obed Kiplagat, Western and Nyanza region Medisel company limited coordinator said that with the collapsed sugar industry in the region, poultry farming is the only way to get easy cash.
Kiplagat, however, urged county governments to support farmers interested in poultry farming adding that currently, Medisel is working in the entire country to ensure that agriculture is supported.
“Agriculture is the main source of income in our western counties that is why we chose to work with the western farmers in poultry,” Kiplagat noted.
To achieve this, the organization started training farmers on how to improve and start poultry farming.
“Today we have met with Bungoma farmers both small scale and large scale, we have trained them on how they can improve and expand the poultry farming,” Kiplagat said.
Kiplagat notes that apart from training farmers, they also supply farm pesticides, chick mash, broilers mash and layers mash to the farmers.
He said that the organization is looking forward to partnering with the Bungoma county government to support poultry farming, saying that it will earn big money for the farmers who will supply chicken at the Chwele slaughterhouse.
“Bungoma is privileged because it has a slaughterhouse where farmers can supply their chicken and get paid,” he said.
He also asked the Bungoma county government through the department of agriculture and livestock to partner with other organizations and train farmers on general smart farming.
Moses Okoth, a veterinary officer from Medisel group, said that the purpose of the training is to enlighten local farmers on the new ways of improving poultry production and management.
Okoth argues that many farmers do not follow the right procedure in the maintenance and treatment of poultry birds.
He added that they have trained farmers on how to manage chicks from till they grow up.
Okoth noted that the revenging drought has negatively affected poultry farmers citing high prices of poultry feeds such as maize.
Okoth asked farmers to look for alternative sources of poultry such as sorghum and millet which are drought-resistant crops to sustain them during such a season of drought.
On her part, Catherine Malusha, a farmer from Kabuchai, Bungoma County said that the training has opened their eyes noting that farmers have been educated on the new methods of dealing with poultry diseases.
“Our birds have been dying but we do not know the reason now after this noble training we are able to identify different types of poultry diseases symptoms and their respective remedies,” she said.