By Felix Wanderi.
The Cooperative movement in Kiambu County has continued to grow registering a total of 558 Cooperative societies with a membership of 459,806.
They boast a share capital of Sh4, 680,426,229 and a turnover of Sh15, 526,777,157.
This was revealed during this year’s Ushirika Day celebrations.
Speaking during the occasion, the County Director of Cooperatives Abigail Taabu said that presently the sector has employed over 3427 people on permanent basis and it is estimated that over 2,000 are employed as casuals especially in the Coffee sector.
“The Cooperative sector is the mainstay of the economy in the county”, said Tabu.
She said that the coffee Cooperative societies had a production of 12,623,929 kilograms of coffee and made gross sales of Sh732, 761,560 and made payments to their members of Sh546,312,887 at a rate of Sh43 per kg.
The Dairy Cooperative societies had a production of 116,390,643 litres and made a gross sales of Sh5,333,541,573 and made payments to their members to the tune of Sh4,480,098,387 at a rate of Sh38 per litre.
The Sacco sector had a share capital of Sh2,084,827,740, deposits stood at Sh31,658,247,773 and had given out loans to members amounting to Sh9,846,340,447.
The Housing sector had a membership of 49,062, a share capital of Sh1, 511,556,452 and a turnover of Sh3, 702,669,387.
The Transport Cooperative societies had a share capital of Sh 167,259,833, deposit of Sh540,530,086 and turnover of Sh120,103,115 and had given out loans to a tune of Sh 43,125,585 to their members in the year 2016.
Taabu encouraged the youth and Boda boda operators to form Saccos, saying that as from 30th June 2017, 67 youth’s Saccos and Boda boda Saccos had been registered.
