News Categories: Agriculture and Cooperative Development

16 Feb
By: Peter Koima 0

NANDI COUNTY ADVANCES TO NAVCDP: Focusing on Commercialization and Value Chain Development for Smallholder Farmers

Nandi County is pleased to be among counties advancing to NARIGP’s phase TWO, known as NAVCDP, which shifts its focus from only Productivity and Profitability to commercialization and Value Chain development.
National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP) builds on NARIGP/KCSAP efforts to enhance productivity and resilience for smallholder farmers transitioning to market-oriented commercialized farming.
The project aims to increase market participation and value addition for targeted farmers in select value chains, including those who are “in transition” or have “transitioned” from subsistence to commercialization.
During the Inaugural Implementation Support Mission, the CECM for Agriculture Dr. Kiplimo Araap Lagat led the County Government of Nandi Project Coordinating Unit CPCU, while representing the Agriculture CECM Caucus, in welcoming the new 5-year project. The County department of Agriculture is happy to announce that NAVCDP will scale up its reach to more farmers and wards in our county.
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24 Jan
By: Peter Koima 1

Expanding Coffee Production in Nandi County

The County Government of Nandi through its Department of Agriculture and Cooperative Development is working to increase the coffee production in Nandi County and make it one of the leading, if not top, coffee-producing counties in Kenya. Some of the strategies earmarked by the Agriculture directorate include expanding production in suitable agroecological zones in the North and South Coffee Belts, which include specific regions with higher potential in the county.

Beginning this January, the department’s expansion efforts include mapping, registering, profiling and training farmers in preparation for increased production. It is also working closely with coffee researchers and farmers’ cooperatives to propagate over 2,000,000 coffee seedlings this year.


The Northern Coffee Belt includes Chepterwai, Kipkaren, Ndalat, Kabisaga, and Lelmokwo Ngechek wards, and the Southern Coffee Belt encompasses Ol’lessos, Kapchorwa, Tindiret, Songhor Soba, Kapsimotwo, Chemelil-Chemase, Koyo-Ndurio, Kobujoi Maraba, and Terik Wards.

In addition to coffee, the department is also supporting the development of high-yielding value chains such as dairy, avocado, and tea in the central belt. The central belt is made up of Kurgung Surungai, Kabiyet, Sang’alo Kebulonik, Chepkumia, Kapkangani, Kapsabet and Kilibwoni wards in Mosop and Emgwen Sub Counties.

It also includes Chemundu Kapng’etuny, Kosirai, Kaptel Kamoiywo, Kiptuya, Lessos, Nandi Hills and Kabwareng wards Chesumei,Nandi Hills & Aldai Sub Counties.

To further this goal, the CECM for Agriculture and Cooperative Development Dr. Kiplimo Araap Lagat made a visit to the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) to learn about new developments in the coffee industry and discuss potential collaborations with the management, led by Dr. Jane Cheserek. #ContinuedTransformation #DolaMashinani

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28 Dec
By: Peter Koima 0

CONSTRUCTION OF NANDI AVOCADO 🥑 AGGREGATION CENTRE AND PACK-HOUSE TO COMMENCE AT THE START OF NEW YEAR

The County Government of Nandi through the department of Agriculture and Cooperative Development continues to demonstrate its determination and commitment to investing heavily and promoting avocado 🥑 farming so as to attract more farmers to venture into the lucrative business for the county’s development.
To achieve this, Governor Stephen Sang’s led administration is taking robust measures including producing and availing quality certified seedlings, promoting mass production, provision of extension services and now construction of Avocado 🥑 processing and storage facilities.
On Wednesday, the Ag. Chief Officer in charge of Agriculture and Cooperative Development Dr. Samson Bitok led the county engineers among other technical staff from the department in the official handing over of a site earmarked for the construction of Nandi Avocado Aggregation Centre & Packhouse to the project managers & contractors, Interbuild Engineering Ltd Company.
Dr. Bitok urged the contractor to strictly adhere to all the provisions of the contract agreement & stipulated timelines and offer job opportunities to the local residents particularly the youth and women.
The construction works for the facility with a capacity to process and store 22 tonnes of avocado 🥑 per day is expected to start in earnest and completed in June 2023 at Lolduga area in Lessos Ward, Nandi Hills Sub County.
Speaking during the handing over, the NARIGP County Project Coordinator Mr. Jared Mutai challenged Lessos residents to join the Avocado co-operative movement in the county and increase their acreage under avocado farming noting that there shall be a constant and ready market for their produce once the facility is operational.
The Nandi Hills Assistant County Commissioner ACC Mr Njoroge, made the point that the area community and Nandi at large need to redouble their efforts to establish more Avocado, saying his home county Muranga earned sh 5b last year from avocado 🥑.
The project being implemented by the County Government of Nandi through the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project NARIGP seeks to empower and enable smallholder farmers organized under the Nandi Avocado Farmers’ Cooperative Society value add their produce and tap into the avocado 🥑 global market. #ContinuedTransformation
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19 Dec
By: Peter Koima 0

SENSITISATION OF THE COUNTY ASSEMBLY MEMBERS ON WARD-SPECIFIC PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES

The County Department of Agriculture & Cooperative Development on Monday held its first consultative and sensitization forum with Members of the County Assembly led by the County Speaker Hon. Cheruiyot Melly to; create awareness and assist the honorable members to best understand and appreciate the statuses of various ward-specific projects and ASDSP II programme, being implemented by the department in collaboration with other strategic development partners, across all 30 wards.

Facilitating the session, the Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme ASDSP II coordinator Mr Job Kosgei highlighted key achievements and shared areas of support needed by the project which supports four priority Value Chains namely, Cow Milk, Maize, Fish, and Indigenous Chicken.

Some of the notable milestones made by the project include the capacity building of farmers that led to the formation of the Nandi Dairy Cooperative Union (NDCU), a federation of over 40 primary Cooperatives, spearheading the implementation of Nandi Cooperative Creameries (NCC), the establishment of a fish hatchery in Songor-Soba Ward, Super-efficient Poultry hatchery in Kaimosi ATC among many more.

These, he noted, have led to increased income for farmers, improvement in food security, increased yields of priority Value Chains as well as the creation of on-farm and off-farm employment opportunities for women and youth.

Agriculture and Cooperative Development Executive Committee Member Dr Kiplimo Araap Lagat who moderated the session revealed that the forum made headways on the initiation and legislation of various bills including the Nutrition, Kaimosi ATC, and Cooperative Bills among others through the constructive consultative session.

Deputy Governor H.E. Dr Yulita Mitei Cheruiyot, who chaired the session, urged the departments and the county assembly to work as a team for the success of devolution in our beloved county. “We can work together and engage as one team and contribute to transforming the county and taking it to the next level,” said the DG.

In his remarks, the County speaker Hon. Melly hailed the consultative meeting as a milestone that must be organized on a regular basis in order to enhance service delivery through appropriate legislation and oversight. Sentiments that were loudly echoed by the assembly clerk who emphasized that both the Executive and the Legislature ought to work in tandem if the county needs to excel in the sector he described as the mainstay and backbone of the county’s economy.

In attendance was the entire house leadership led by the Deputy Speaker, leaders of both Majority and Minority parties, the Chief Whip, the chair of the Agriculture Committee and the honorable members. Also present was the CECM for Finance and Economic Planning Hon. Hillary Serem and representatives from Nutrition International and Agriculture Department. #ContinuedTransformation

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30 Oct
By: Remmy Butia 0

GOVERNOR SANG APPOINTS TASKFORCE ON MULTINATIONAL TEA COMPANIES 

Nandi Governor has appointed members of a Taskforce to conduct an extensive review on Multinational Tea Companies engagement in Tea Sub-sector in Nandi County. The taskforce will develop a tripartite report that will provide a roadmap to facilitate sustainable solutions and coexistence between multinationals, communities and all stakeholders involved with the tea sub-sector across the County.

 

The Members of the Taskforce are:

John Cheruiyot – Chairman

Rev. Elijah Yego

Dr. Bernard Kiplimo Lagat

Dr. Philemon Bureti

CPA Alfred Lagat

Steven Rotich

Dr. Ruth Choge

Wilson Kipkogei Lelmengit

 

The Secretariat:

Godfrey Sang

Kibet Gim Awi

Maureen Chepngetich

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14 Oct
By: Faith Songok 3

LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING FOR THE PROPOSED NANDI COUNTY COOPERATIVES ACT

The national economic vision of the hustler economy has identified cooperative societies as socio-economic enterprises whose framework of operations is in line with the productivity and profitability model of bottom-up economics, that integrate harmonious bearings to low-income populations.

Cooperative societies have demonstrated this through their enterprise approach of pooling member resources to accommodate a low-income member with a cost-benefit platform through shared capital expenditure and sharing of risk while ensuring members’ autonomy and independence of ownership is maintained.

It is on this mandate, that the County Government of Nandi is committed to the process of finalizing policy and legislation interventions that reflect on the structure of cooperative contexts in Nandi aimed at enactment of a comprehensive Nandi County Cooperatives Development Policy and the first ever Nandi County Cooperatives Act.

These are legislative frameworks that will ensure every cooperative in Nandi has secured property rights, access to finance, and a supportive regulatory framework to actively participate in a more enabling environment stipulated on law.

On Thursday, the department of Agriculture and Cooperative development, in collaboration with global communities legislative consultants had a physical meet up to continue on the analysis of the operational legal contexts of the various cooperative activities in Nandi and build on legislative interventions that speak to Nandi cooperative interests and concepts in a way that gives legal effect to the strategic policies and legislation drafted, guided by the national cooperative law as framework to guide the regulatory reform.

Technical team in session.

Open governance and effective service delivery form the major principles that the team is basing on to ensure a robust, supportive legal backbone for a much anticipated vibrant Nandi cooperative movement.

Director Cooperative Development, Mr. Stalin Koech

 

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16 Jul
By: Faith Songok 1

REVIEW OF THE NANDI COUNTY COOPERATIVES DEVELOPMENT POLICY 2021, TOWARDS ACCREDITATION

 

          Review in Progress|Photo

In view of this, and with the governance role of the County Government of Nandi, the department of Agriculture and Co-operative Development has developed a FIRST, NANDI COUNTY COOPERATIVES DEVELOPMENT POLICY DOCUMENT, as an action framework to address the processes, applicable policies, laws, regulations and ethical standards that will guide and support the cooperative societies to account for, monitor, identify, develop, and make these key decisions in an enforceable way within a changing environment.

This comes after evaluation by the department, that there is need to address management gaps within our cooperative societies, brought about by challenges in transitioning existing solutions to meet the interpretations of the newness of emerging issues and on translating the requirements amidst resource, politics and mental models that might block progress.

Such is that, on Thursday, the directorate of Cooperatives led by the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) Agriculture and Cooperative Development, Dr. Kiplimo Araap Lagat and Chief Officer Cooperative Development Dr. Benadatte Tiony, in partnership with Global communities, conducted a review of the developed policy document, purposively towards accreditation.

The policy document goes on length to address institutional management issues of identity, transitions, and reforms, service to the public in privatization, partnerships, and compliance.

The review exercise is the final step in recognition and accreditation of the first ever NANDI COUNTY COOPERATIVES DEVELOPMENT POLICY 2021, which was developed under the development transformative agenda of His Excellency Governor Stephen Sang, of revitalizing the cooperative sector, as spelt out in the Nandi County Integrated Development Plan 2018.

#ContinuedTransformation

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02 Jul
By: Faith Songok 0

HAPPY USHIRIKA DAY 2022: THEME, Cooperatives Build a Better World.

Happy Ushirika day to our cooperatives societies as they join other cooperatives in celebrating the centenary ushirika day; the 100th International day of Cooperatives.

Your socio-economic contribution to the people of Nandi is of immense value and greatly recognized.#Ushirikaday #Coopsday

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01 Jul
By: Faith Songok 2

CREATING ENVIRONMENT FOR DAIRY CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES EXPANSION

The department of Agriculture and Co-operative Development, is continuously reviewing the operational strategies of its primary farmer cooperative societies to ensure the frameworks in place are sustainable and are fine tuned to develop the production and profitability capacity of these institutions, with focus on improving the production process.

It is on this mandate that on Tuesday, the department through the directorate of Co-operative Development in partnership with National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA), led the Nandi Cooperative Dairy Union to assess the measure of performance of the strategies the Union acquired from Meru Cooperative Dairy Union, during a benchmark session on February this year.

Review in Progress

In accordance with which, the union customized the proven techniques to match the needs of their producer cooperatives and had them apply and add to their standard production processes, so as to achieve a competitive advantage.

Nandi Cooperative Dairy Union Chairman, Dr. Abraham Rugut.

Key takeaways that the union continues to implement centres around; timely payment plan to member farmers, accountability of leaders on matters milk production in their responsible zones,quality feed production and management training to farmers through establishing demo plots, providing farmer members with quality seeds by establishing seed multiplication plots and empowering farmers on the skill as a means to source more from them, establishing a breeding strategy to match the strengths of the different catchment areas in Nandi ,performing regulatory and policy functions without improper political interferences, develop policies that will support youth and women mainstreaming in the dairy sector, record keeping for identification and traceability, extensively exploring and using the available technical support from the County Government and collaborative partnerships, establishing a Nandi Cooperative forum to share knowledge and come up with solutions to challenges the farmer co-operatives face as a block, and to strengthen the ties between the directorate of Co-operative Development and the union in liasing with primary cooperatives.

The Chief officer Cooperative Development, Dr. Benadatte Tiony, stated the set action plans the department has, towards supporting the union towards a superior business position in the region and on maintaining accountability to the administrative wishes of the farmer cooperatives.

Chief Officer Cooperative Development, Dr. Benadatte Tiony addressing the meeting.

Present were Nandi Dairy Union officials, Co-operative officers, and NCBA CLUSA country directors.

NCBA CLUSA Country Director, Ms. Lydia Omamo speaking during the review

#TransformingNandi

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01 Jul
By: Faith Songok 0

COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION FRAMEWORK FEEDBACK REVIEW FORUM

In order to improve methods of negotiation and conflict resolution prone in cooperative decision making structures, and applying to issues of public concern, the department of Agriculture and Co-operative Development is keen to sustain the Alternative dispute resolution framework to support the operational resolve-capacity of its farmer co-operatives.

On Monday, Sub County cooperative officers and cooperative managers sourced from the Nandi Cooperative Union, together with stakeholder link from National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA CLUSA), held a year review of progress on matters conflict and resolve of disputes since the inception of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) desk in Nandi on July of 2021.

Director Co-operative Development, Mr. Stalin Koech leading the review.

The review was marked with extensive coaching built on challenges cited from foregoing resolution dynamics and sharing of proven effective methods tested on the field.
In the performative year, the directorate of cooperatives has resolved over 12 notable cases amicably.

The department is keen to ensure farmer cooperative institutions which are human centered businesses, are built and sustained through preventing and amicably resolving conflicts.

Alternative Dispute Resolution framework is a conflict resolution initiative that settles dispute without litigation in that it allows involved parties to identify mutual satisfactory solutions without facing a tribunal.

It is an effective management tool for cooperatives as it is developed from the shared principles of cooperative values of self-help, self- responsibility, equity, equality and solidarity.

NCBA CLUSA Country Director, Ms. Lydia Omamo speaking at the forum.

#ContinuedTransformation

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