Nyandarua County Set to benefit from Pyrethrum Farming Revival

Efforts to revive the pyrethrum sector  in Nyandarua County are in top gear after years of neglect.

Since the liberalization of the pyrethrum sub-sector, private companies among them Kentagra have been working hard to encourage farmers to embrace the crop that is soon set to be a white gold in some 10 counties within Central and Rift valley regions.

According to Maurice Muok, an officer with Kentagra, a spirited campaign was being undertaken to sensitize farmers on the need to embrace the crop saying so far, over 950 farmers have been contracted while over 450 acres of land are now under the crop in Nyandarua County.

He noted that farmers were getting quality and certified planting material as a way of revitalizing the sector, which he noted had the capacity of earning the country Sh5.8 billion annually from sale of refined pyrethrin extract.

However, while speaking during a farmers sensitization forum in Leshau are of Kiriita Ward in Ndaragwa Constituency, the officer said pyrethrum growing in future is very bright noting that the global demand for the produce was huge and cannot be exhausted since most of the synthetic pesticides that area the in the markets were being blacklisted, and hence the option farmers will be having now and in future are basic pyrethrin based products since it is organic and does not have the risk to farmers.

A section of leaders and farmers in the region have lauded the move saying with the changing climatic conditions and challenges facing most agricultural crops, turning back to pyrethrum farming was the way to go.

The sector went on its knees in the 1990s as the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK), now Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya, was unable to pay farmers on time, forcing them to uproot the crop. PBK enjoyed monopoly then.