President William Ruto has continued to extend his arm with the leaders across the political divide as he held talks with Busia Governor Paul Otuom on Tuesday.
The State House Press Secretary, Emmanuel Talam told the Star that the talks centered around development as the Busia Governor met the President at State Lodge Eldoret.
"Discussed areas of collaboration between the national and county government especially on agriculture, particularly the revival of cotton farming, " he said.
Otuoma won Busia's governor seat under the ODM party after garnering 164,478 votes in the August 9, 2022, general elections. John Sakwa of ANC came second with 92,144 votes.
Busia County is set to benefit from various development projects.
The first phase of Busia’s County Aggregated Industrial Park will create more than 5,000 jobs for residents.
Trade CS Moses Kuria launched the country’s first CAIP in Busia, an investment that marked a major leap towards industrialisation.
Early this month, the government delivered 17 tons of Bt Cotton to Busia, kicking off Kenya Kwanza's plan to revive the sector.
Busia targets to plant a total of 11,253 acres in the first phase, with the ultimate objective being to put 42,000 acres under cotton production in the county.
The project targets to produce at least 800kgs of lint and cotton seed cake per acre, which will translate to more than nine million kilos; three million kilos of lint and six million kilos of cotton seed cake.
Already 82,000 bags of fertiliser have been delivered to the Malaba NCPB depot ready for disbursement to farmers.
The Bt cotton seed being issued through the e-vouchers is a genetically modified hybrid.
There are two types of hybrid cotton-normal and Bt.
Hybrid cotton is more profitable compared to conventional seed with hybrid seed planted in a one-acre farm producing 1,500 kilograms of cotton.
Some 12,000 Kenyans have been registered as cotton farmers on the Kiamis platform.