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Kiambu County has embarked on an ambitious program of recycling organic waste to produce organic fertilizers in a new bid to boost food production in its twelve sub-counties.
 
The county, which collects in excess of 600 metric tonnes of waste per day, hopes to transform the organic matter collected into useful fertilizer that will be freely distributed to farmers across its 60 wards.
 
To kickstart the project, a pilot project is already underway at Waruhiu farm in Githunguri constituency ahead of full implementation.
 
According to the county environment director Patrick Theuri, 60 environment officers have also been trained in various parts of the world on how to manage the waste and will be deployed to all wards.
 
Theuri, who stressed organic fertilizer as important to farmers because it treats the soil by removing acidity from it besides releasing the food nutrients to the crops slowly and assisting the soil to retain moisture by suppressing plant diseases and pests, said farmers will start making double production thereby enabling it to reduce reliance from other counties.
 
“We want our farmers to double their production and using technology and resources within our disposal, we are ready to implement this project which will be so helpful to our people,” he said.
 
He assured that by using organic fertilizer, farmers across the county will soon reap quality and nutritious food crops for a longer time as compared to when they use chemical fertilizers.
 
At the same time, Theuri who spoke during a cleaning exercise at Gachagi slums in Thika revealed that a law compelling all developers to sign a contract with garbage collectors on waste management will soon be operational.
 
Thika district business association chairman Alfred Wanyoike who joined the county team in the exercise rooted for proper waste management by all businesspersons to not only keep the town clean but also allow for a safer and healthy environment where all people will enjoy working at.
 
“We have a duty to keep our environment clean at all times. As investors, we will support the governments of the day in making sure that we operate in a good atmosphere that will enable us to thrive,” stated Wanyoike.
 
His statement was echoed by Eunice Mwega, a nominated MCA who urged Kiambu residents to commence segregating waste from their houses and as a result enable the county push for faster manufacturing of organic fertiliser. 
 
The cleanup exercise at various slums in Thika town also saw participants plant trees to better conserve the environment.
 
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