Lodwar, 20th February, 2026 (Public Communication and Media Relations)
Turkana East Farmers through Morulem Irrigation Scheme Cooperative Society, have asked the County Government to buy Morulem Ikosi Sorghum Porridge for the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) Centres spread across the County, stating that this is a ready market for their produce, instead of buying from outside market.
Speaking to Governor Lomorukai, when he visited their display booth during the Farmers Field Day, Joyce Ekadeli said, it would be a good deal for the county government to buy directly from the Cooperative, adding that there would be a ready market and strong injection of income from the sales, hence economically empowering more than 3500 members.
“Our challenge has been access to the market for our produce, and for this reason, county government would be our first ready market, owing to the increased learners enrolment in the ECDE centres. And we have the capacity to provide the quantities required by the market,” assured Ekadeli.
Turkana County has over 1000 ECDE centres with a total enrolment of 139,388 young learners.
Established in 2019, the Cooperative has grown the number of its members from 500 to the current 3500, saying the motivation behind it, has been the commitment to economically transform the members through credit access and other facilities.
She lauded the Kuza Jamii Project in collaboration with the county government and partners for the field day event. It was, Ekadeli said, an open opportunity for all the participants involved to showcase their unique products.
Eruko Cooperative members praised Ontotoi Ranch owner Patrick Ngumi and locals for purchasing all their 1000 goats through public auction at the event.
They called on organizers of the event to consider increasing the days for future farmer’s field days, for them to fully realize the benefits that come with such one-time event.
Event, guided by the theme, “Local production to market: strengthening trade, market access and livelihoods in Turkana County”, Catherine Gitonga, the Chief Executive Officer for Smart Regional Consultants (SRC), one of the consortium partners for Kuza Jamii Project said, “I am happy the one-day event brought together diverse stakeholders to exchange knowledge, showcase innovations, and strengthen the agricultural value chain.”
Gitonga, further added that the Project organized 11,700 last-mile agri-business stakeholders into ward-level producer cooperatives to increase farmer and pastoralist incomes while strengthening access to inputs, credit, markets and market intelligence.
The CEO noted the collaboration with the County Government of Turkana, stating the continuous partnership in thematic areas of the Project implementation. She said, they have succeeded in reaching out to 3,000 farmers drawn across the county for the event.
Apart from Eruko, Kalokol Lotiira, Lorugum, Atodukos Kaapei, Arid Frontiers cooperatives, WFP, InkoMoko, My Credit Ltd, KCB, Equity, and Cooperative Banks, TUPADO, and SAPCONE were also among key stakeholders involved in the planning of the event.
