Busia County farmers urged to embrace edible oil crop cultivation to cut import costs

SALOME ALWANDA AND RODGERS OMONDI-KNA 

Residents of Busia County have been urged to embrace the farming of edible oil crops.

Speaking at Nasewa County Aggregated Industrial Park after meeting with Nasewa cooperative societies, SACCOs, and agripreneurs from the area, the Principal Secretary of the State Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Susan Mang’eni, said embracing this type of farming will help the government reduce the money spent on importing oil.

“Busia County has great potential for the farming of edible oil crops. In our country, we spend close to Sh150 billion yearly to import raw materials for edible oils, which can be better produced in this region. 

If we embrace this farming, much of this money can remain within our local economy,” she said. The PS added that the county has the potential to contribute significantly to the growth of the country’s economy and improve the living standards of people in the county.

“We have seen progress with the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), and the County Aggregated Industrial Park (CAIP) is almost complete.

The remaining work is to stimulate production, which calls for farmers to embrace and venture into this value chain.” “This is what will help us to achieve the threshold of the production level that we need.

This place is going to be a big industrial area in the country,” she said. Mang’eni indicated that the completion of many stalled projects calls for more engagement in the production of agricultural products which will serve as raw materials.