January 30, 2024 (Public Communication and Media Relations)
County Executive Member for Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries, Dr Anthony Apalia officiated a participatory exercise for the selection of county priority value chains for the Food Systems Resilience Project (FSRP).
Supported by World Bank, this project aims to increase preparedness for food insecurity and improve the resilience of food systems.
CEC Apalia appreciated the value chain selection committee and expressed satisfaction with the criteria used in value chain selection. He also mentioned the criteria would assist in addressing the Governor’s and the National Government’s agenda on food security.
The County Executive also acknowledged the efforts of the Emergency Locust Response Program (ELRP), and National, Agricultural, and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) projects towards food security. He also acknowledged the contribution of the ELRP and NARIGP on food security even as they phase out to pave the way for FSRP calling for a smooth transition to the new project -FSRP
“The FSRP being at its inception stage relies heavily on the already built capacity of ELRP and NARIGP projects thus capable of hastening its activities based on the rich background of the projects,” he said.
Chief Officer for Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Janerose Tioko, said that FSRP represented a significant stride towards reducing food insecurity and promoting resilience.
“This project complements the County Government’s commitment to sustainable development and creation of value chains for its diversity across all the 30 wards,” said CO Tioko.
While acknowledging challenges facing food production in the county, CO Tioko was optimistic that the FSRP project unit would support efforts to address the challenges.
The project will build on the investments of ELRP/NARGP and upscale the lessons learned from the two projects and will be implemented in 30 wards of the county.
The FSRP Coordinator, Victor Lochee, assured the team of an integrated approach in the implementation of the project. He explained that the project would fuse the project implementation manual, intergovernmental participation agreement, county, and national government priorities, and donor demands.
Participants included county and national government officials, representatives from Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Kenya Forest Service, World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) World Bank Group, the private sector, agriculture and aquaculture, and local community members.
