The County Chief Officer for Agriculture and Land Reclamation Janerose Tioko yesterday presided over the distribution of 200 goats and Veterinary drugs to Community Interest Groups at Kakuma in Turkana West.

The goats were procured through the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP).

NARIGP is a National Government project funded by the World Bank with the objective of increasing agricultural productivity and profitability of targeted rural communities in selected 21 Counties.

Kakuma is among the four wards in Turkana that have benefited from Narigp’s Ksh. 11.5 million funding to 53 micro-projects.

Others include Kangatotha, Letea, and Loima.

In her remarks, CCO says the project which is at its tail end was focused on increasing productivity and profitability of the targeted rural communities through investment in various value chains.

Value chains being implemented by the Narigp Project in Turkana include Sorghum/Cowpeas, Goats/Sheep, Beekeeping, and Chicken farming.

She called for proper management of the goats’ distribution and cautioned that the Department will undertake monitoring and evaluation that will inform the allocation of future projects in areas that have benefited from the World Bank grants.

Chief Tioko assured the Department will always involve all stakeholders in the identification and implementation of selected projects for sustainability.

Kakuma MCA Eliud Emoni called for consultative engagement in the future in selection of projects to make sure that they positively impact the targeted communities and groups.

According to Narigp’s County Community Development Officer Elia Lolem, at least 19000 people had benefited from the funding, while an additional 114,000 indirectly benefited from the supported community investment.

At least 756 Community Interest Groups(CIGs) have benefited from Narigp’s disbursement of Ksh 242M in 20 wards in Turkana County.