The ministry of Agriculture has warned farmers in Western province of diminishing food production due to over reliance on cash crops, especially sugarcane.

Speaking during the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) field day in Kongoli area, western office Director Dr. George Ayaga, expressed fear that the region which was among the leading food producers in the country is now scaling down, posing a threat to food security.

He said that the government has established Agriculture Training Centers across the country to assist farmers in research methodologies on different scopes of soil performance, terming conservation of agriculture as the most resilient to promote agriculture and boost food production in the country.

Farmers were asked to form groups to access free advice from either KARI or Mabanga Farmers Training Institute inBungoma County.

Dr. Ayaga said the best method of improving soil fertility and moisture content is to use desmodiam as covercrops in conservation agriculture, which is rich in nitrogen fixation and also emits smell which pushes away insects like stem-borers which spread over the maize plantation sucking all the nutrients and striga weed, a foreign growth on the maize heart.

"We have produced enough seeds of desmodiam and incorporated the Kenya Seed to have farmers access it at affordable price to promote conservation agriculture and control of pests and moths without use of chemicals," he said.

According to a crop scientist Lois Ndiege, the cover crop is planted in rows together with maize plant and is harvested alongside the crop as animal feed minimizing the risk of pest attacks.

The cover crop is recommended in western, Nyanza and parts of Rift Valley especially those areas prone to pests and stem borers larvae which have affected Maize, Soghurm, Millet and other cereal production for the past ten years.

However, the Provincial Maize Section officer John Achieng' said that KARI is doing its best to ensure production of short term maize varieties and other cereals to promote food production in the country.

He called on farmers to embrace mixed farming and crop rotation system and seek advice from the established agricultural centres and extension offices within their reach.

On his part, Ministry of Agriculture Secretary Dr. Wilson Songa said the ministry is working round the clock to raise food production by the year 2030.

He urged scientists to continue researching on maize diseases and how to fight them saying such diseases are a greatset back to farmers and food production in Kenya.

Dr. Songa said that the government will continue giving subsidized fertilizer and seeds to the farmers.

"Why farmers delay to plant is not because the government fails to supply subsidized seeds and fertilizer but because farmers will always go for the farm inputs when its already too late,''he said.

Songa further said the ministry will support KARI initiatives to penetrate to arid areas like Turkana, Wajir and Lamu to ensure the hardship areas are converted into agricultural fields to eradicate poverty.

The ministry has also put up a Fish factory in Kakamega creating ready market for private and government sponsored fish farmers in the region. Through the economic stimulus kitty, the government set up over 200 fish ponds across the country. The factory has already started receiving fish from all counties.