Factory for processing French beans to be set up at EPZ

A factory for processing French beans is to be established in the country by mid-2015, it has been announced.

Meru Greens Horticulture Limited director and co-founder Rosemary Muthomi said the factory will be built at the Export Processing Zone in Athi River due to the “sensitive” products it would be handling and to ensure quality.

EPZ products are also exempted from certain taxes.

Mrs Muthomi was addressing journalists on Wednesday when officials from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Kenya Horticulture Competitiveness Programme officials visited her in her office at Gatimbi in Meru County.

She said the factory will process beans for export during the first phase.

The officials were led by USAID-KHCP communications manager Aminah Jasho and KHCP field manager for Meru, Michael Waweru. Others were Catherine Mugo and Stanley Mutenyi.

SECOND PHASE

“The second phase will deal with fruits like mangoes and oranges,” said Mrs Muthomi whose organisation has been working with farmers for the past 22 years.

The factory, she said, would also manufacture banana flour.

“This comes at a time when there is indication of bananas flooding our market, but Meru Greens will not let this happen. We will carry out value addition,” she said.

Meru Greens Horticulture, which markets fruits and vegetables, is working with 10,000 farmers to produce goods for high-end markets “that are very sensitive,” Mrs Muthomi said.

The firm plans to increase the number of farmers working under it to 15,000.

PROVIDE EXPERTISE

She said USAID-KHCP had helped provide expertise for farmers to deliver quality products and also donated motorbikes to boost accessibility to growers by its agronomists.

“Prior to the entry of USAID-KHCP one and half years ago, we had a very big challenge. With the help from these organisations we have managed to achieve phenomenal growth and expanded our production scope from Meru to Tharaka-Nithi and Machakos counties. This has raised our production in terms of volume and quality,” she said.

She said the organisations had helped her company access planting materials, including bananas, that were free of pests and diseases.

“I have been an agronomist for the last 28 years but had not come to know the importance of clean planting materials. In an effort to please our partners we did things right,” Mrs Muthomi said.

She added that her firm hopes to double the volume of beans delivered to it by farmers to seven million kilograms by 2015.

IMPROVE RURAL ROADS

Mrs Muthomi urged county governments to improve road networks in farming areas, saying places like Kerio Valley in Elgeyo-Marakwet, with the best soils for cultivation, are not accessible.

“I went to Kerio Valley last week and was pleased by the potential it has but was saddened by its inaccessibility. We want to invest there but we can’t do so due to bad roads,” she said.

She regretted that county governments were paving roads in urban areas and neglecting those in rural areas that were impassable during the rainy seasons.

She said smallholder farmers earn more than Sh75,000 from French beans annually from half an acre land while banana growers fetch Sh350,000 from an acre.

She also urged the government to exempt “corrective” farm inputs from taxes to boost production, saying firms like hers have been forced to subsidise growers thus eating into their profits.