JICA TEAM PAYS A COURTESY CALL ON GOVERNOR BARASA

Kakamega County Governor H.E. FCPA Fernandes Barasa on Tuesday hosted a delegation from Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) led by the Northern Corridor Agriculture Promotion Advisor at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Ms Meri Fukai.

Governor Barasa appreciated the delegation for the visit and reiterated that to actualize the pillars of wealth creation and food security, public-private partnerships are critical in promoting agriculture and related value additions in the County.

The County boss also encouraged partcipatory approach and emphasized on prioritization of crops that can be commercialized to enhance agribusiness in Kakamega County.

JICA together with Nicky Consultants will provide technical assistance to enhace the County’s efforts for Agricultural investment promotion in a bid to promote food security and wealth creation.

The Ministry of Agriculture through the support of JICA is implementing a pilot project in Kakamega for Agriculture Investment Promotion through the Kakamega County Investment and Development Agency (KCIDA) aimed at identifying three priority crops and a value chain analysis as well as building the capacity of KCIDA in investment promotion along the identified value chains inorder to prioritize the County’s agricultural value chains including linkages to markets both locally and internationally.

The project also aims at enhancing ICT through improvement of the Agency’s website and digital content development for effective communication to potential investors.

The two parties are expected to develop a collaboration framework that will help to improve the livelihoods of the people of Kakamega County.

Also in attendance were KCIDA CEO Ms Elizabeth Asichi and NICKY Consultants CEO Mr Nicky Thairu.