An official of the Horticultural Crops Development Authority has called for allocation of more money from Treasury to the organization to enable it to deliver on its mandate.

Ms FlorenceTelegat said budgetary constraints continue to slow down progress towards helping horticultural farmers exploit and maximize the opportunities available in both the local and international markets.

Telegat said limited resources remain the greatest challenge, saying the current allocations were insufficient to sustain the training programmes for farmers and exporters on emerging technologies and how to reposition themselves to benefit from such opportunities.

“We provide a critical link between the farmers and markets, both local and international while assisting them engage in horticultural production as a business,” she said.

Speaking at the Mombasa showground, Ms Telegat said such forums were critical to enable farmers learn new technologies and opportunities available to them.

According to Ms Telegat, transportation of horticultural products has also been a major challenge for farmers since many lacked the logistics.

She pointed out that high freight charges for vegetables, fruits and flowers to the export markets also push up production costs, making the goods less competitive.

She added that the technology available to local farmers was outdated hence an urgent need to train them on modern farming ways, cooling, storage and transporting products to the market in a clean way while ensuring they retain their freshness.

The department also conducts market research to identify new markets so that farmers and exporters are able to produce specifically for the target markets.