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: 19 September 2018; Hits: 6262

Narok County to construct Sh1.2bn leather tannery to offer market for farmers

hides skins tannery Workers at a tannery in Kenya. Narok County government to build a tannery to offer market hides and skins. Photo courtesy.

The county government of Narok is planning to construct leather tannery to process hides and skins. The Sh1.2bn tannery will offer a market for hides and skins for farmers from Nakuru, Nyandarua, Narok and Kajiado counties that have often gone to waste.

According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Economic Survey 2018, the livestock sector contributes about 12 per cent to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 40 per cent to the agricultural GDP and employs 50 per cent of the agricultural labor force.

About 60 per cent of Kenya’s livestock herd is found in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), which constitute about 80 per cent of the country.

This even as the leather market currently on its knees and flooded with synthetic imports.

Cattle keepers in Narok County are a replica of what happens in other parts of the country, they have had to make do with meager returns from their efforts.

RELATED ARTICLE: Narok secures Sh28b investment for agriculture

The Narok County government with support from the national government is establishing a tannery that will provide a market for hides and skins from four counties namely Nakuru, Nyandarua, Narok and Kajiado.

This according to stakeholders will enable them earn from their efforts while at the same time revamp the leather market in the country.

The tannery once complete will produce up to 4,000 tons of leather per year and it is hoped that the establishment of the tannery will also be a catalyst for the growth of the area’s economy.

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: 17 September 2018; Hits: 8433

Kisii County plans to revive stalled avocado factory to provide market for farmers

The Kisii County government plans to revive the stalled Kisii avocado factory in a bid to provide market for farmers in the region through value addition to produce juice, cooking oil and syrup extracts.

The Sh150m factory which was first launched in 2013 by the county in partnership with Turkish and Australian investors has been under construction for over three years.

The county’s agriculture executive Esman Onsarigo said last week that the factory would soon be operational bur did not indicate the exact timeline.

“Once complete, the factory will have the capacity to process 80 tons of avocados daily; farmers can start preparing to supply the factory with the produce,” he said.

Government launches Hass Avocado farming in Nyamira

Good news for Kenyan farmers as global avocado prices double on high demand

avocado

In August this year, farmbiz.glorycarefoundation.org reported that Kenya became the largest exporter of avocados in Africa in 2017, exporting a record volume of 51, 507 tons to the world. South Africa, traditionally the lead exporter of the world fruit from the Agriculture-rich continent, relinquished the position and trailed Kenya for the first time ever in history with 43, 492 tons.

Kenya’s pool of the biggest importers includes the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and more recently, the Russian Federation. The UAE tops the list with some 12, 041 tons for the 2017 timeline. Saudi Arabia is the country’s fourth importer with some 4, 874 tons worth of imports in 2017. The Russian Federation currently holds the 5th position in trade volumes that have culminated at 4,171 tons in 2017.

The second, third, and sixth major export markets for Kenya avocados are all in Europe. The Netherlands leads the pack with 10, 556 tons of the fruit from the 2017 statistics. France is the third biggest importer: its net volume stood at 10, 423 tons in the same year. The United Kingdom and Spain close the top 7 with volumes that verged on 2,944 and 1,734 tons respectively in 2017.

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: 14 September 2018; Hits: 6515

KEBS new and stringent measures causing fertiliser shortage

A woman picking flowers at Oserian flower farm. The farm decries delays of fertiliser clearence at the port of Mombasa further causing sortage.

The new and stringent measures on local inspection of all fertilizers introduced by Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) are now causing massive fertilizer shortage in the country, occasioned by delays at the port of Mombasa.

Sounding the alarm over the shortage, Kenya’s leading flower grower and exporter Oserian Development Company says the delays are grinding farm operations to a near halt with devastating effects.

While KEBS has traditionally certified the quality of fertilizers in the country of origin before shipment, it has introduced a new set of rules which include re inspecting all consignments at the port of entry as it seeks to tame proliferation of counterfeits.

RELATED STORY: Liming reduces fertiliser wastage

This lengthy clearance process that now takes up to two months before release of consignments has been blamed for the unprecedented shortage.

According to Mary Kinyua, the Director of Human Resources and Administration at Oserian, fertilizer suppliers are incurring up to Sh2 million shillings daily in demurrage which they are passing to them, further pushing the cost of producing flowers up.

The company is now predicting a dip in yields and increase in flower prices, which it says will be the case among other growers as they seek to compensate their margins, making Kenyan flowers costlier at the competitive global market.

“The flower industry has this year already been hit by bad weather, pest and disease pressure, high cost of production as a result of increased fuel cost and fluctuating markets. This bottleneck within our borders will only make things worse,” Mrs. Kinyua said.

Oserian is a frontrunner in hydroponics technology that embraces the use of soiless medium to grow flowers. The technology relies on fertilizers to feed flowers. A shortage even for a day disrupts the entire production cycle which ultimately affect markets and earnings.

Oserian now predicts that if the trend continues it will have far reaching effects to the industry and the economy.

“The consequences of further delays will be far reaching and will affect our businesses through low or no revenues which will lead to massive job losses, lack of foreign earnings, government will not raise tax and this will lead to a complete shutdown of an industry that has been built in the last 30 year and made impressive gains,” Mrs. Kinyua added.

Oserian’s alarm comes days after the industry’s umbrella body, Kenya Flower Council warned of a looming crisis if the government doesn’t address the current delays.

“We are doing everything possible to support our members in unlocking the situation as soon as possible to avert total collapse of the industry,” KFC CEO Clement Tulezi said in a communique to members.

The Council has reached out to government in a bid to avert the unfolding crisis by looking at ways of expediting the inspection including immediate release of fertilizers that have passed the inspection test to ensure growers get the input in time.

“As much as KFC appreciate the controls KEBS is putting in place to ensure quality and conformity to standards, the process should be quick and facilitative to the industry. We are doing everything possible to support our members in unlocking the situation as soon as possible to avert total collapse of the industry”, the communique further read.

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