Kirinyaga County in Kenya will put aside at least US$ 50m for the construction of 10 industrial hubs. This will be through a private partnership for the purpose of agricultural production.
The county will provide land for the building of the industrial hubs while private developers meet facility and equipment costs. It will also pump US$ 10m into the venture targeting farmer groups and cooperative societies.
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“The final model will be that of the private sector running the parks while we manage production and supply. The returns for the farmers will be 80 per cent and the 20 per cent will deducted and saved for their sacco,” said governor Anne Waiguru.
She further pointed out that the model would guarantee farmers a stable and structured market, benchmark their returns at optimum as well as provide them with savings for borrowing purposes.
Implementation of the industrial hubs
By the end of next year, the projects will be in full implementation.
Upon full implementation, the agricultural sector in the county is anticipating to have annual gross returns of about US$ 970m up from the current average of US$ 242m.
This project is tenable since middlemen reap on average 40 per cent of returns from the farmers’ gross returns. Apart from that, wastage and swindling in the markets eat a further five per cent in the returns.
This further makes the price fluctuations reduce by another 20 per cent of farmer’s income.
