Residents of Ruiri Rwarera in Buuri East Sub-County have been urged to join cotton societies in the area to benefit with seedlings ahead of the planting season.

Former nominated MCA Betty Kinya Kiambati urged area farmers to join Tutua Cotton Cooperative office.

“Through our Tutua Cotton Cooperative office, registration for farmers is ongoing so that we can plan for the volume of seedlings we need for our farmers. I call upon you to take the advantage before closing dates,” said Ms Kinya.

She said that unlike other regions in Meru County where several crops do well, cotton is the most reliable cash crop favourable to the climate in Ruiri Rwarera.

“For those who had not planted last season, there was a bumper harvest and the prices were attractive. Let’s all join the cooperative for easy planning,” she added.

Ms Kinya also noted that the data that will be collected through registration will help in identifying targeted farmers as beneficiaries of other farm inputs among them fertiliser and chemicals.

During her tenure as a nominated MCA between 2017 and 2022, Ms Kinya moved a motion at the Meru County Assembly proposing cotton to be made a cash crop, giving hope to farmers to press on with the agricultural practice they had started giving up on.

Since then, the farmers started going back to cotton farming despite challenges among them lack of market, training, pesticides and funds for seedlings.

Currently, through ginneries and partners, farmers are able to access a variety known as BT Cotton introduced by the national government when Peter Munya served as the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary.

Mr Charles Muchena, a cotton farmer from Mumui Tigania West said that the BT cotton variety has high yields compared to the traditional one.

“When the BT crop variety was introduced to us, we realised increased harvest. An acre can produce up to 1,000 kilos compared to the other variety where we used to harvest 600 kilos per acre,” Mr Muchena said