The Ministry of Co-operatives and Medium Small and Micro Enterprise Development plans to construct a Ksh320 million cotton ginnery at Kinondo in Msambweni Sub-County, Kwale County. This initiative aims to revolutionize cotton production on the Coast and create wealth for the locals through the value addition of their cash crops.
During a site visit of the proposed cotton ginnery, the Principal Secretary for the State Department for Co-operatives, Mr Patrick Kilemi, expressed the government’s commitment to increasing the capacity of the manufacturing sector from 7.8% to 15% by 2027 by enhancing value chains and bolstering agricultural production in the country. This focus will, in turn, create wealth and employment opportunities for the farmers, their children, and other local residents.
The PS added that the Coast Region has the potential to play a significant role in the country’s economic transformation, particularly in the textile and apparel industry and the development of the blue economy sector. To achieve this, the government will actively support cotton farmers in increasing national annual production from the current 20,000 bales to over 100,000 bales by 2027. This will reduce the need for cotton imports and provide raw materials to local cotton mills.
The government will invest in cotton production in the country by building the capacity of cotton co-operatives by providing resources at the farm level, including inputs, processing facilities, and credit. To reduce the cost of production and increase farmer incomes, the government will establish a modern ginnery at PAVI Farmers’ Co-operative Society Ltd with a ginning capacity of 20,000 bales per year for Sh320 million.
Mr Kilemi revealed that the government has allocated Sh100 million for the construction of Phase One of PAVI Farmers’ Co-operative Society Ginnery at Kinondo, Msambweni Sub-County in Kwale County in the 2023/24 Financial Year, and plans are at an advanced stage to start the construction. The proposed factory will serve Taita Taveta, Kwale, and Kilifi Counties, which currently produce 5000 bales of cotton per year and is projected to increase to 16,000 bales by 2027. This will go a long way to meet the national target of 100,000 bales by 2027.
The ginnery will produce animal feeds, edible oils, and other cotton by-products, further boosting the cotton industry in the region and creating wealth and employment for over 100,000 households. When operationalized, the ginnery will save the country much-needed foreign exchange that is spent on the importation of edible oils and, at the same time, enhance farmers’ earnings from their produce, thereby lowering the poverty index of the coastal region.
Mr Kilemi urged Kwale residents to take advantage of their vast and fertile lands to grow cotton commercially, adding that according to the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), the County’s potential in cotton production is enormous. With the construction of the cotton ginnery at Kinondo, the farmers will be able to diversify their incomes from the by-products of cotton ginning.
The PAVI Farmers’ Co-operative Society has a membership of 6,000 farmers, but they are currently dealing with the challenge of high costs and time wastage when transporting their cotton to Makueni for ginning. Eliud Korir, an expert Business Re-Engineering Advisor, highlighted the issue.
