Meru Farmers Urged to Venture Into Cotton Farming

National government administrators in Buuri sub-county have embarked on a joint mission with agricultural officials to educate and sensitize farmers on the need to embrace cotton farming as a cash crop. 
Speaking to the Media in Karimba in Kisima ward, area DCC Aisha Kiiva said some lower parts of the sub-county were semi-arid with favourable soils for drought resistant crops and cotton was one of them.
Kiiva said the national government was working closely with crop experts in the agricultural sector for technical guidance on the choice of quality cotton seeds for lower parts of Meru County as a way of enhancing community socio-economic strength and growth. 
The administrator said most of the lower parts of the county receive low rainfall annually leaving farmers counting losses on rain fed crops due to failure to attain maturity for harvest as expected at the time of planting. 
She urged residents to consider creating space for individual farm forests as their participation in boosting the county and national forest cover beyond the recommended 10%, saying Meru County was already at over 18% cover. 
Kiiva said Buuri residents had an obligation to take advantage of the prevailing heavy downpours in the area to plant more indigenous and exotic trees, saying there were very few trees planted along the road from the sub-county to Isiolo and Nanyuki town. 
The DCC encouraged public and private institution managers to spearhead community mobilization into tree planting activities, saying trees would act as wind breakers and source of oxygen and timber in future.
 “We at the sub-county headquarters have managed to plant over 1,500 trees in the last few years to lead by example,” She noted.