• It can process six metric tonnes of tomato sauce and paste, as well as fruit juices and purées.
• The machines can process 500 kilos per hour.
Image: FILE
Highly perishable tomatoes and fruits in Kitui will not go to waste, resulting in losses for lack of market.
Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu on Monday commissioned a tomato and fruit factory at the Kitui Agricultural Training Centre to process the fruits and vegetables.
The factory can process six metric tonnes of tomatoes into sauce and paste, as well as fruit juices and purées.
The governor said proper quality control has been taken into consideration.
The packaged organic products from the factory will have a two-year shelf life even without additives or chemical preservatives.
Ngilu said farmers will never lack markets as the Kitui County Food Industry plant can meet the local production demands.
“This food processing plant is meant to add value to products from our Mianda small scale irrigation programme, where tomatoes and fruits are produced in high quantities,” Ngilu said.
“It will come in handy to salvage any surplus farm produce from going to waste.”
She said her decision was informed by the need to add value to farm produce by farmers, especially tomatoes.
“We all know that in every market, every other three days tomatoes go to waste and that should not happen in Kitui,” she said,
“Women dealing in tomatoes would be organised into Saccos to deliver the tomatoes to the plant in a pool.”
The machines in the factory can process 500 kilos per hour, translating to 6000 kilos per day.
Ngilu said the plant can mop up and process all tomatoes and fruits produced in the region, ensuring that nothing goes to waste.
She said going forward, other counties would also be encouraged to deliver their products as well.
The governor said Kitui had set its sights on becoming a manufacturing hub and a model from where other regions could copy.
Ngilu called on other counties to take up manufacturing as alternative own-source revenue streams, create employment, add value to locally available products for maximum benefit.
She said governors should initiate projects and programmes that will have a positive economic impact on their people.
“Manufacturing is the sure way to kick out poverty and create employment for young people,” Ngilu said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris