Mandago said there were plans to process milk and grains locally/FILE
Speaking on Friday when he met with representatives drawn from various Business Associations in the county, Uasin Gishu Governor, Jackson Mandago said the county is an agriculture based economy.
“One of our areas of key delivery is not only to improve in agriculture but to improve productivity; we invite you as investors to invest in agro processing. We are talking about creating jobs and we want to empower farmers in this county,” he said.
Mandago said there were plans to process milk and grains locally.
“The county is a big producer of milk but most of it is transported to Sotik and Kiambu for processing and a number of cereal millers who buy grain from the area process it in Mombasa.”
“We have dairy farming and we produce the best milk around. Nestle is scouting around to see if they can get milk from here.”
Mandago urged investors to look into unutilized opportunities in horticultural farming given that Eldoret is home to an international airport.
He said that through horticultural exports, the airport could get more traffic.
The Governor called for initiatives to make farming attractive to young people saying that one of biggest problems facing the agricultural community in the area is the advanced age of farmers.
The Governor told participants that due to the number of universities in the region and the student population of about 40,000 students in Eldoret town there were opportunities for wholesale and retail services.
Speaking on behalf of the business associations, Tobias Alando, an executive officer of KAM, called for the business representatives to be co-opted into county boards saying “our inclusions in the county boards will bring our contribution to the development of this county.”
The county is also home to many of the country’s athletes and is currently looking for international partners in sports tourism.
The Seminar was organised by Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) together with the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and participants were drawn from Kisumu, Nakuru and Uasin Gishu counties.
