Bett pleads for time in pyrethrum revival

The timeline for revival of the ailing pyrethrum sub-sector is still hazy, after the ministry remained non-committal on the issue saying it needs time to diagnose the woes before prescribing a remedy.

Addressing growers of the cash crop, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett said he had to consult before giving a definite response.

At least more than 100 farmers, workers representatives and private commercial processors had waited for Mr Bett to offer a solution and strategies aimed at putting the sector on the fast lane to recovery.

And when he rose to address the audience, Mr Bett said: “For me, today was to listen to you and I have been listening very carefully. A doctor cannot prescribe medicine before diagnosis and investigations are done to establish the problem.

To be honest with you I am now locating where the problem of pyrethrum is and the symptoms to me are very clear,” he said.

“I cannot give timelines although I operate on timelines. I need to consult with my ministry officials and come up with a workable strategy after I have read all the memorandums you have handed to me,” Mr Bett said in Nakuru last week.

He spoke at the Nakuru factory, which is largely lying idle due to inadequate processing materials when he made his maiden visit.

The CS was accompanied by Agricultural Food, Fisheries and Authority (Affa) director-general, Mr Alfred Busolo, Pyrethrum and Other Industrial Crops Managing Director Simon Odera, Nakuru County Governor Kinuthia Mbugua and other senior ministry officials from Nairobi.

Farmers’ representatives were drawn from Nakuru, Nyeri, Nyandarua and Narok counties and were led by the Pyrethrum Growers Association (PGA) national chairman, Mr Justus Mochache Monda, who presented the CS with issues that they want addressed.

Mr Bett assured stakeholders that he would fast-track the separation of regulatory and commercial functions in a bid to speed up the liberalisation process.

“The law requires us to separate the two functions and I will make sure regulatory functions remain at Affa and commercial is handled by the counties,” he added.

He announced that his ministry would soon pay the pending arrears of Sh25 million to hundreds of workers who were retrenched in 2001.

At the same time, he said his ministry was looking for a formula to pay more than Sh1.2 billion owed to pensioners.