More than 7,000 onion farmers in Kieni West in Nyeri are set to benefit from farm inputs, post-harvest handling facilities and markets, following the launch of a new onion farmers’ cooperative.

The cooperative will provide farmers with a platform to pool resources to help them acquire equipment collectively and improve their bargaining power when buying inputs and marketing their produce.

Presiding over the launch which took place at St George’s, Gataragwa grounds in Nyeri, Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS), Kipchumba Murkomen, hailed President William Ruto’s Administration for introducing reforms in the agriculture sector.

He said the government’s support for the farmers was part of efforts to improve household incomes and strengthen the country’s food security.

During the occasion Murkomen helped raise more than Sh 5million that will act as seed capital for the new cooperative.

Murkomen  assured  that the government would continue to support similar initiatives, as part of efforts to make agriculture a profitable source of income for local households.

The CS delivered onion seeds worth Sh700,000 to the farmers from the Ministry of Agriculture while announcing that the Ministry of Agriculture would construct a greenhouse and provide two onion driers, to help farmers reduce post-harvest losses.

He further revealed that the farmers will receive capacity-building support valued at Sh1 million to equip them with knowledge on modern onion farming practices and emerging trends in the sector.

Murkomen cited the fertilizer subsidy programme as one of the measures being implemented to lower the cost of production, saying the price of a 50-kilogramme bag had fallen from nearly Sh 7,000 in 2021 to the current Sh 2,000.

The CS highlighted reforms in the coffee sub-sector, where he noted that farmers who were previously earning between Sh60 and Sh70 per kilogramme of cherry, are now earning between Sh100 and Sh150 per kilogramme.

He linked the government’s agricultural interventions to its broader Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), saying the objective was to ensure that ordinary farmers benefit directly from economic activity.

“As a government we are here to support the farmers and ensure that we help them make a living through farming and, most importantly, supporting them by making the venture profitable and putting money in their pockets,” said the CS.

According to Joseph Wachira, the Chairman of the newly launched Kieni West Onions Farmers’ Cooperative, the initiative will help farmers address some of the perennial challenges that have continued to prevent them from realizing the full potential of onion farming.

He said that the first priority for the cooperative will be to facilitate farmers’ access to seeds and other inputs at affordable prices through collective purchasing.

Wachira noted that the high cost of inputs had made it difficult for farmers to venture into onion production while at the same time discouraging existing farmers from expanding their acreage despite the crop’s potential in the Kieni.

“The cost of production has kept many potential farmers from venturing into onion farming. Currently, a farmer needs between Sh30,000- Sh 40,000 in order to buy enough onion seeds for one acre. This is very expensive, especially if you consider that this excludes the cost of other inputs such as herbicides and fertilizer, which are also expensive,” he said.

“One of our plans is to invest in onion driers and good storage facilities, which will allow the farmers to preserve their produce as they search for better markets, instead of rushing to sell immediately after harvest like we normally do,” Wachira told KNA in an interview at the sidelines of the launch.

Data from Farmers Trend, an online magazine, Kenya consumes approximately 400,000 tonnes of onions annually with local production being able to meet between 60-70 per cent of the demand. The publication says that the remaining 30-40 per cent is imported from neighbouring Tanzania.

Some of the onion producing areas include Mount Elgon,Kajiado, Meru,Nakuru, Narok and Nyeri, with Kieni West being listed as the highest producer of onions in the Mount Kenya region.

By Wangari Mwangi