Government to boost horticulture

The newly appointed Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, has said that the government in planning to establish a flower park where interested farmers would buy shares. Kalibata made the revelation while addressing the Senate on the current state of agriculture in the country. “Horticulture is one of the areas that remain tricky to invest in but brings in a lot of money if well managed; this is why we are planning to set up this park so that individuals or groups can buy shares,” said Kalibata. Currently, horticulture has the capacity to generate US$25m annually but last year it generated US$7m. Kalibata said that production within the horticulture sector is still very low and has not reach a level of winning supply contracts. In her explanations with regard to the problems of terraces that are not properly exploited, Kalibata told Senators that there is lack of sufficient lime for use on terraces. “The primary objective of setting up these terraces is to control soil erosion and to increase the surface of land that can be cultivated. However, we are faced with a problem of lime and how to transport it,” she said. Kalibata told the Senate that she would put emphasis on encouraging more participation from private sector to invest in numerous agricultural projects. She said government will continue to invest in agricultural infrastructure like irrigation or other investments like fertilizer acquisition hoping that the private sector will eventually take lead in these investments. “For basic infrastructure like irrigation facilities, government will continue to invest in it but ultimately, our goal is to see private sector take charge of running such initiatives,” Kalibata said. Ends

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Government to boost horticulture