Dairy farmers in Embu County have appealed to the National Government to hand over control of the underutilised New KCC Runyenjes Factory to local dairy farmers.
They argued that by placing ownership of the multi-million facilities under farmers, would boost production, processing and value addition thus increasing farmers’ earnings and boosting the local economy.
The farmers also added that currently, milk farmers in the county are feeling the pinch for selling raw milk to external processors at low prices due to lack of bargaining power that could be reversed if they got control of the plant where they can process milk locally.
“We have assessed the KCC Plant which is a bulking centre, and in principle, it is extremely underutilised and not helping farmers much and our feeling is that the facility is given to farmers,” said Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) Chair Genesio Mugo.
He said the plant had not met the objective the government intended of reducing post-harvest losses within the county and the only way to turn around farmers’ fortunes was to have it under their control.
“With proper utilization and value addition, milk farmers will stop talking about poor farm gate prices because they will be able to process and sell value-added milk,” he said
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Their sentiments were echoed by Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire who said her government was ready to support the revival of the factory if it is handed over to farmers.
“We are ready to set aside Ksh200 million to revive and modernise Runyenjes Factory once it is given to Embu farmers,” Mbarire said.
She also appealed to the National Government to complement the county’s effort with additional funding to fully equip and modernise the facility.
“I am appealing to the National Government to give an additional Ksh500 million so that the factory can be equipped with modern machinery and proper infrastructure to serve our farmers effectively,” she said.
The push comes at a time when the government is exploring privatisation of state-owned enterprises with the goal of improving efficiency, reducing national debt burden and generating revenue.
By Juma Ndigo
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