KISUMU, Kenya Jun 6 – Farmers across the Lake Region are set to benefit from a new sunflower farming programme aimed at boosting household incomes, improving food security and opening up new market opportunities for local communities.
The initiative was officially launched at the Industrial Technology Transfer and Training Centre by the Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) in partnership with Green Tec Hub Limited.
The programme seeks to encourage farmers to diversify from traditional crops such as maize and sugarcane and embrace sunflower farming, which stakeholders say offers higher returns and is more resilient to changing climate conditions.
Speaking during the launch, Kuno Jacob said the project is part of broader efforts to transform agriculture and improve livelihoods in the Lake Region.
“Today we are launching the planting and production of sunflower to bring change to this community, and we are going to roll this out to other regions as well,” Jacob said.
He explained that sunflower was selected because it matures faster than many conventional crops, performs well in local soil conditions and has a ready market.
“The reason why we chose sunflower is because it is valuable, takes a shorter time to mature, and the income that comes with it is quite huge compared to crops such as sugarcane and maize,” he added.
The project will initially target more than 3,000 farmers in the region, with plans to gradually scale up and eventually reach more than 20,000 farmers across the wider Lake Basin area.
To address concerns over market access, LBDA has partnered with Green Tec Hub Limited, which has committed to purchasing sunflower harvested under the programme.
Jacob assured farmers that there is strong market demand for the crop.
“We have partnered with Green Tec to do the marketing for this, and the market is ready. The only worry is that production might be low because the demand for sunflower is quite huge,” he said.
John Kanyi said the company is introducing the Sunflower Value Chain Programme to complement its existing rice value chain activities.
He noted that Kenya continues to import large quantities of sunflower products despite having significant local production potential.
Kanyi said the initiative will support farmers with seeds, farm inputs and technical assistance while also guaranteeing market access.
“We are going to provide the farmers with seed and inputs. We are then going to come and take all that particular crop. We encourage the farmers to join cooperatives and groups so that they can benefit from this initiative,” he said.
He added that the demand for sunflower is steadily growing due to its use in cooking oil production and biofuels, creating new economic opportunities for farmers.
The programme is expected to expand to counties including Migori County, Busia County and other parts of the Lake Region.
