The National Oil Corporation of Kenya in collaboration with Red Cross Kenya has embarked on multimillion projects to address the problem offood insecurity in the country.
Already the National Oil Corporation has provided 33 greenhouses to different schools across the country at a cost of 16 millions according to the Managing Director Ms. Sumayya Hassan Athman.
Ms. Athman said that by supporting green houses for schools project they are aiming at empowering communities with modern farming technologies.
“Supporting schools with green houses, we are using it as an entry point to the entire communities and also as a diffusion point for greenhouse farming technology,” she asserted.
She said locals will be able to deal with problem of food insecurity in the country in a sustainable manner.
“We want to encourage communities to be self sustaining in food production and through schools where students will act as ambassadors totheir parents down inn the rural areas,” she noted.
Speaking at Kakuyuni Boys Secondary school on Wednesday where she officially launched ac green house for schools project, Ms. Athman said National Oil has also set up 4 green houses on Kenya Red Cross demonstration farm at Manda Island in Lamu.
The function attracted secondary schools from as far as Kwale, Taita Taveta,Kilifi, Mombasa and Garseni.
Green house farming, she noted was the only solution to Kenya’s perennial food scarcity problem saying the National Oil aims to at using the technology to transform Kenya’s’ arid and semi-arid lands into food production zones.
“I urge students to take advantage of these green houses in schools and use them so that they can take home the technology in order to make sure that hunger problem is buried,” she appealed.
She said Kenyans especially in the hunger stricken areas should not rely on rainfalls but instead to embark on irrigation by using River waterfor food production.
Ms. Atman went further to add that communities around should also enquire from schools with green houses and get information so that they adopt them.
“Locals should also get information from schools and applythe technology at their farms. So the schools with green house should serve as center for community information,” she noted.
Red Cross Kenya Secretary General Mr. Abbas Gullet urge Kenyans to adopt the new green house farming technology and avoid depending on relief food which do not satisfy them.
He said the technology use less amount of water with high production of food.
Mr. Gullet challenged students taking Agriculture subject to make sure they pass their exams as the green house allows them to practically practice agriculture.
“We don’t expect students to fail exams when they practically practice agriculture in school with the green houses. Take example of Yatta where 40 agricultural students had passed the agricultural subject with A.
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