Here Comes Hon David Ouma Ochiengs response on the issues raised by the people of Ugenya. Anyone with further querries, information or anything to add on can say it now or forever hold your peace. I am personaly satisfied by the response. I will come to siwar primary electricity project next. Read and be the judge!David Ouma Ochieng I have read and followed with keen interest the ongoing discussion on the distribution of certified maize seed in Ugenya. From the healthy discussions over the last 3 days I have not only been able to decipher a number of lessons to help our interventions on food security have more and better impact but I have also gathered valuable insights for the future. I thank you all who have raised their concerns on the implementation of the initiative. I hope you would appreciate the fact that the use of certified seed in our farms in Ugenya has been the exception, not the norm. Not least because of the high costs of such seeds with the attendant access difficulties. The seed initiative should be viewed from the point of view of stimulating the uptake of certified farm inputs. I decided to give the seeds to the citizens of Ugenya without discrimination so that as we narrow down to the organized groups we know who to target without making the often spurious assumptions that characterize most similarly situated interventions. I have also noted a number of specific concerns which I wish to address as follows: 1. Whether I will be giving seed every year - This is not possible. We gave seed in the short rains last year but the rains failed most of our farmers so it was difficult to assess the impact of the same. This is why it was necessary to give seed during the long rains. We will then be able to compare the yields in the two seasons and focus our interventions on where and when they are most needed. 2. Sustainability of the Seed Intervention - The recipients of the maize seed know that they will not receive it forever. Food security is one of the areas I emphasized during my campaigns. I gave a lot of free seed during my campaigns also. However the long term plan that Jougenya know is that we are to establish a cereals-cum-farm inputs store to enable them readily access the farm inputs and get a place to sell their harvest at good rates whenever they have surplus. You may be aware that most NGOs working on food security do have a foothold in Ugenya. In fact, very few such NGOs operate in the current Ugenya. I am currently in touch with USAID KAVES Project, Ford Foundation and AGRA with a view to having them extend their operations to Ugenya. As we talk about sustainability, lets remember that you can only sustain what is already there. We have to start from somewhere. I have heard and I would wish to hear more suggestions on how to not only sustain the seed intervention but on how to bring in any new initiatives for food security. We are also working closely with the department of Agriculture at the national and county levels to optimize the outcomes of our interventions. 3. Public participation - Since my election 12 months ago, I have a number of public fora for consultations, both in Ugenya and Nairobi during which we discussed my five year plan. I have had ward meetings as well as targeted stakeholder meetings. I would expect to work with the results of these consultations to move forward. On the issue at hand, i.e seed, the people of Ugenya are unanimous on the need for the same alongside other food security enhancing initiatives. It may be that facebook is not my preferred means of consultation but I recognize the same as a means of communication. 4. Source of Funds for Buying the Seed As indicated above, I used to give seed during my campaigns. I would buy these from my own resources. The seed I distributed last week between Monday and Thursday was purchased by me from Kenya Seed Company in Kitale. I have an agreement with them where they supply me with seed and I pay in an agreed number of instalments. For security of their payments I have charged my parcel of land where my home in Ugenya stands. I have also given Kenya Seed my personal post-dated cheques worth Kshs. 3.85 million. The contract between myself and Kenya Seed can also be accessed through email if need be. Just like last time, I pay Kenya Seed through a check-off system that gives me upto six months period of payment. The contract between Kenya Seed and I are available at my office, just in case you may want to verify this. If my personal money is taxpayers’ money I will answer any questions related to accountability. It is a burden I choose to bear to entrench the culture of beneficial farming to our people. 5. The Role of CDF As part of agriculture capacity building CDF assists my office with logistics in the distribution of the seed. They don’t buy the seed, they don’t pay for them. I DO. 6. Subsidized Fertilizer You may be aware that the GoK has had the initiative of supplying farmers with subsidized fertilizer for a number of years now. You are also aware that we do not have a GoK Cereal depot in Ugenya. You are also aware that people of Ugenya pay taxes and they would wish to access the subsidized fertilizer. Through the CDF Office we have been able to secure a temporary fertilizer store at Sega. We negotiated with NCPB to post a clerk at the temporary store so that JoUgenya do not have to go to Yala. We have transported the fertilizer from far flung places like Yala, Kisumu, Nairobi and Chavakali to make our people access the same easily. You are also aware that we do not have a bank in Sega, so we had to negotiate with NCPB to allow our farmers pay through KCB Mtaani. DAP/NPK are the certified fertilizer for our region and that’s why it is the fertilizer in our stores. On the whole, let me assure that as long as I am alive and God is gracious to give me health and resources, I will use the same to serve the people of Ugenya. We have longed for development and it is time for everyone to play their part. We may differ in approach but if the end result is to better the lot that is JoUgenya I am sure we will always get a meeting of minds. I also hope that the questions raised are in good faith and aimed at ameliorating that food security situation in Ugenya. Like any other mass public undertaking, incidents like those that happened in Sega, 1 out of the 27, may accidentally occur. As humans we must learn lessons from these and better our act in the future. For those who want to know my plans for my second year in office, let me hear from you what you want done and lets have discussion as I do not think we can that within the context of the ‘seed’ queries. Ugenya wane engwech…wadhi..kiyie to ring kodwa.. God bless you all.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 15:23:58 +0000
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