Residents of Siaya County have been urged to diversify their farming practices by incorporating high-value fruit and cash crop trees alongside traditional food crops to boost household income and environmental conservation.

Speaking at Pap Kakan village during a tree-planting exercise, Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga emphasized that the government, through the Ministry of Environment, has committed to providing 20,000 coconut seedlings to residents in Siaya.

He noted that the initiative is designed to ensure every household has productive cash crops that can eventually yield exportable produce.

“In planting trees, we must look at fruit trees. As you do beans and maize, you also need to do mangoes, oranges, avocado, and a lot of other cash crops,” said PS Oluga.

He pointed out that Siaya, despite its potential, currently lags behind in export-oriented agriculture compared to neighboring regions like Kisumu, Migori, and Homa Bay.

According to the Ministry of Environment data highlighted during the event, Siaya County has approximately 150,000 hectares of land suitable for coconut farming, while Kisumu has about 147,000 hectares, Migori 192,000 hectares, and Homa Bay 256,000 hectares.

Echoing these sentiments, Siaya County Commissioner Nobert Komora reinforced the region’s commitment to the national tree-planting objective.

He stated that the county has aligned itself with the broader 10-year national strategy running from 2022 to 2032 to plant 15 billion trees.

“As a county of Siaya, we have committed ourselves to planting 15 million trees per year, translating to 150 million trees over the 10-year period,” said Commissioner Komora.

He called upon citizens and local children to actively participate in the environmental drive to achieve sustainable development goals and restore degraded landscapes.