Secretary Mohamed outlines ways to improve textile sector

The government has pledged to revive the leather and textiles sub-sector.

Speaking during a familiarisation tour of the Bata Shoe Factory in Limuru on Friday, Industrialisation Secretary Adan Mohamed said his ministry is working to improve efficiency in manufacturing companies.

Las Thursday, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich proposed an allocation of Sh3 billion to revive and make operational at a higher capacity industries in the textile and leather sub-sectors.

Mr Mohamed said government is keen on bringing down the cost of locally produced products that compete poorly with imported goods.

“To bring down the cost of production, we are looking to lower the cost of power, improving the quality of roads to ensure market accessibility and improving value addition of raw products,” he said.

The Bata factory directly employs 3000 workers and produces 30 million shoes annually.

HEAVY DEMAND

These products, says Mr Mohamed could be doubled to take advantage of the East African Community shoe markets.

Despite heavy demand of up to 28 million units of leather, the Cabinet Secretary expressed regret that the demand was heavily reliant on imported supplies against a current local supply of less than 4 million units annually.

“Kenya has ideal production zones for quality leather. With the global leather demand now estimated at more than Sh5.2 trillion ($ 60 Billion), we must work hard to grab a share of the cake,” he added.

According to Mr Mohamed, the local leather production capacity has been progressively hampered by low production capacity at the grassroots level, and this leads to more than 85 per cent loss of raw skins due to damage or poor handling during slaughter.

The Ministry is now set to commence an engagement programme with the county governments geared to encouraging them to establish modern slaughterhouses and regional tanneries in their respective areas to spur industrial growth and create jobs.