Coast

Farmers encouraged to plant fruits to sustain Kwale's processing plant

Kwale Governor Fatuma Achani gives a local Bakari Tsuma (right), a hybrid mango seedling at Kubo in Kinango sub-county. (Photo: Mishi Gongo)

By Mishi Gongo | Monday, May 13, 2024

Governor Fatuma Achani stated that the processing plant, whose construction started in 2019, is expected to be completed towards the end of this year.

Farmers in Kwale County have been urged to plant more fruits to provide enough raw materials for a fruit processing plant that is 95 per cent complete.

The Sh600 million fruit processing plant, under construction at Shimba Hills in Kubo South, will cushion farmers from post-harvest losses and exploitation by the middlemen.

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Kwale Governor Fatuma Achani, while distributing over 9,000 hybrid mango and orange seedlings to locals in the Bofu Kinango sub-county, stated that the processing plant, whose construction started in 2019, is expected to be completed towards the end of this year.

To encourage farmers to be ready for its launch and ensure the constant provision of raw materials once the plant starts to operate, Achani added that she will lead the distribution of seedlings in all 20 wards.

She further urged locals to take advantage of the opportunity to better their lives.

"The county has taken this initiative to ensure that the fruits are of the right quality for processing. We ask all farmers to invest in fruit seedlings," Governor Achani, who was accompanied by local leaders, said.

Kwale Governor Fatuma Achani gives a local Kwekwe Kombo (right), a hybrid mango seedling at Kubo in Kinango sub-county. (Photo Mishi Gongo)

Locals were also urged to come together and form societies that would help them formally table their concerns and also engage in agribusiness to promote food security and reduce over-reliance on food aid.

Bakari Tsuma, a local from Kinango, said that once the procession plant was completed, farmers would not need brokers and middlemen to sell their produce.

According to Tsuma, a mango seedling sells for only Sh5, while other varieties of the same fruit are sold for Sh4 in the region, less than in other counties.

"We do not see the benefit of our produce. We spend so much to care for the seedlings only to sell the fruits at a throwaway price once they mature to the brokers, who make huge profits from our sales. But we are confident that once the plant is complete, we will enjoy some relief," he said.

Another farmer, Kwekwe Kombo, asked the county assembly to pass laws to protect local farmers from exploitation by middlemen.

Kombo lamented that farmers are forced to sell their fruits locally or to the neighbouring Tanzania markets at a throwaway price due to a lack of markets. She added that the brokers pocket hefty profits at the farmers' expense.

"Brokers are flooded everywhere determining prices on how we should sell our fruits," she said.

While concurring with Tsuma, Kombo said that the factory will also help end the menace of brokers who control the market price, taking advantage of desperate farmers.