Deputy President Kithure Kindiki on Wednesday opened the First National Conference on Macadamia Farming in Embu town.
The conference was held at the Embu University Grounds.
The conference was organised by the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), a state corporation under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives.
Kindiki said Kenya is the fourth largest exporter of macadamia in the world, and the second largest in Africa.
According to Kindiki, 200,000 smallholder farmers spread across 20 counties and the 40 processing plants offering 30,000 jobs mainly in rural areas are the Centre of the Government's support programs.
This, Kindiki said, will ensure greater incomes from this crucial value chain.
''The Government is making deliberate interventions to reduce the cost of macadamia production, promote value addition, and the ongoing construction of the Embu County Aggregation and Industrial Park will go a long way in taking macadamia farming to the next level,'' Kindiki said.
