The CIG members are trained on efficient use of water resources. They are trained on water harvesting and storage.

The farmers are also trained on irrigation systems that are economical and environmentally friendly. Emphasis is put in the use of drip irrigation as a means of water conservation measure.

Poor quality Produce

Due to farming methods used and slow adoption of modern technology among other factors farmers have not been able to produce products of high quality that would meet international standards. This makes their products less competitive in the international market. Farmers are also known to use restricted classes of chemicals indiscriminately which serves as a setback in marketing.

Marketing of the Produce

In 1960s, 70s.80s and the early part of 1990s, crop production was a major challenge to farmers. But today, limited market opportunities are the principal problem. The farmers have no bargaining powers, no real market information, and no system of assisting the farmers to accumulate their uneconomic produce in order to attain economic levels, among others.

But as the government relinquished its participation in the provision of various services, farmers have found themselves without guaranteed markets and other services, something they were used to for many decades in the past. They have been confronted with many middlemen who pay exploitive prices. In addition, unscrupulous dealers have dumped commodities from outside which have sent prices of locally produced products crumpling to rock bottom, often below the farmer’s production costs. The net effect of these developments is that farmers have felt discouraged or lack incentives to use the best available technologies to increase their production.

The consumers have not been spared either. In times of shortages caused by drought or off-seasons, prices of food items skyrocket beyond the means of the poor populations; thus, threatening food security. This state of affairs has caused alarm and consternation among both farmers and consumers.

Hort agro solution agencies aim at providing timely signals or information to the farmers to guide them in their plans to produce. The farmers need to know what to produce, when to produce, when and where they can sell those produce and at what prices the produce are likely to fetch.