Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) has distributed avocado and banana seedlings in Kenya’s Muranga County, contributing to the region’s struggle against poverty, strengthening institutions and regional agriculture
TİKA provided avocado and banana seedlings to 10 schools, 10 health centres and a total of 1,500 people consisting of disabled, youth and women within the scope of the Project to Combat Poverty-Related Diseases and Problems by Supporting Banana and Avocado Production in the Murang’a county, which faces problems related to poverty and jiggers. Within the scope of the project, in cooperation with the Ahadi Kenya Trust, a total of 25,000 seedlings, 10,000 bananas and 15,000 avocados, were delivered.
Through this project, the people of the region will diversify their income sources by producing avocados and bananas. The project will also contribute to healthy nutrition. In addition, the project is expected to play an important role in combating poverty-related diseases and problems.
The project opening ceremony was attended by Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga's wife Ida ODINGA, Turkish ambassador to Kenya Ahmet Cemil MİROĞLU, Kenya National Assembly Health Commission chairman Sabina CHEGE, Kenyan defense minister's wife and HRI Kenya director Lucy WAMALWA, Mathioya MP Peter Kihara, chief executive Ahadi Kenya Trust Stanley KAMAU, and Eyüp Yavuz ÜMÜTLÜ, TİKA programme coordinator.
Ida ODINGA emphasised the strategic importance of agriculture for the Kenyan economy and government and thanked those who contributed to the project. Speaking at the opening ceremony, ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Kenya Ahmet Cemil MİROĞLU stated that he is pleased with the strong development cooperation between Kenya and Türkiye and hopes that the work in this field will increase.
TİKA Nairobi programme coordinator Eyüp Yavuz ÜMÜTLÜ, focusing on the importance of sustainable, effective and efficient projects expressed that the project aims to create a source of livelihood for vulnerable persons by providing means for income generation, build a healthy population and alleviate human suffering by educating the masses on the correlation between nutrition, disease and quality of life, increasing tree cover through agro-forestry, hence positively impacting the environment, economic transformation through value chain optimization and the creation of a circular economy which will ensure post-harvest management, market access and profit maximisation and the birth of cottage industry. Eyüp Yavuz ÜMÜTLÜ also thanked everyone who contributed to the project, especially.
