Kilifi County’s expanding industrial base is opening new opportunities for cooperative societies and smallholder farmers, following the commissioning of a new fruit processing factory expected to strengthen agricultural value chains and widen market access.
Over the past three years, the county has attracted Sh9 billion in investment through the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) programme, resulting in 14 new enterprises and more than 14,000 jobs.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Milly Fruits EPZ Ltd processing factory in Sabaki Ward, Magarini Constituency, Investment Promotion Principal Secretary Abubakar Hassan said Kilifi has become the leading coastal county for EPZ investment, a result, he said, of strong collaboration between national and county governments.
According to Hassan, the number of EPZ enterprises in Kilifi has grown from 10 to 24 since President William Ruto and Governor Gideon Mung’aro took office. The programme had remained largely stagnant for nearly three decades, supporting about 10,000 jobs, before the recent surge.
“Fourteen new companies have invested Sh9 billion and created 14,000 additional jobs, surpassing what was achieved over the previous 30 years,” Hassan said.
For the cooperative movement, the Sh343 million Milly Fruits plant marks a major breakthrough. The factory is expected to give thousands of fruit growers a reliable market, encouraging farmers to organize into cooperatives for stronger bargaining power, better aggregation of produce, and improved access to markets.
At full production, the facility will process about 10,000 metric tonnes of fruit annually, sourced from more than 4,000 farmers, including 3,580 new smallholder producers. This creates a significant opportunity for cooperatives to coordinate production, raise quality standards, negotiate better prices, and meet the volumes required for export markets.
The plant will also produce roughly 760 metric tonnes of dried fruit each year for export to Europe and the Middle East, adding value to local produce while cutting post-harvest losses.
The investment was supported through a partnership between Milly Fruits EPZ Ltd and the UK government’s Sustainable Urban Economic Development (SUED) Programme, implemented by Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya. The programme contributed Sh83.8 million in catalytic funding alongside the company’s Sh259 million investment.
Governor Mung’aro called the factory a major milestone in his industrialization agenda, saying it would transform livelihoods by creating stable markets and promoting value addition.
Milly Fruits Managing Director Azeem Rashid said Kenya’s agricultural future depends on processing crops locally before export. “Our future lies in processing more of what we grow, creating jobs here at home and exporting finished products proudly carrying the words ‘Made in Kenya,'” he said.
Beyond direct employment, the project is expected to inject about Sh633.75 million into the local economy over the next three years through payments to farmers and workers. It will support an estimated 4,180 jobs, 500 direct, 400 indirect, and 3,580 farmer-linked.
British Deputy High Commissioner Diana Dalton said the factory reflects the strength of Kenya-UK economic cooperation, while FSD Kenya CEO Rashmi Pillai said the project shows how public-private partnerships can drive inclusive growth.
As Kilifi continues to attract industrial investment, cooperative societies are expected to play a growing role in linking smallholder farmers to high-value processing industries, helping ensure rural communities share directly in the county’s manufacturing growth.
