Kilifi takes over mango factory from Malindi farmers

The Kilifi county government has taken over running of a multi-million mango processing factory in Malindi after donors stopped funding the cooperative that owns the project .

The factory that belongs to Malindi Farmers Cooperative Society has been in existence since 1957. Although donors have been funding it for the last 13 years, it has failed to bear fruit despite investments worth millions of shillings.

Micro Enterprise Support Program Trust in partnership with Malindi Mango Farmers Cooperative Society and Malindi Natural Juice Processors initiated the project under a finance agreement amounting to Sh164 million between 2011 and this year.

MESPT board chairman Noah Meely  said they successfully supported setting up of the factory and have been injecting working capital for its operations.

Speaking during handing over of the factory, he said the ceremony coincided with the end of the Green Growth and Employment Programme 2017-2020, which has been supporting mango and coconut value chains in Kilifi county.

"You are aware that mango farmers struggle to sell their produce after harvesting due to the perishable nature of the fruits . This is in addition to other challenges they face including inadequate markets, low prices and exploitation by brokers. This was even worse several years ago when Malindi did not have a processing factory," he said.

He said Malindi Farmers Cooperative Society wrote a proposal  to MESPT to support them to minimise post-harvest losses and secure a reliable market which necessitated the establishment of Malindi Natural Juice Processors Limited.

Meely said their partnership with Malindi Farmers Cooperative Society began in 2007 through a capacity building programme on good agricultural practices and facilitated contractual market linkages for the farmers .

He said in 2011 the partnership evolved into targeted support towards semi-processing of packed and frozen mangoes and later mango pulp.

''The factory's main objective was to address post-harvest losses, to create reliable market for the farmers and enhance waste management along the mango value chain within the region while creating sustainable jobs and income for small holders,"he said.

Cooperative members revealed that despite all the financing from donors they have not been able to break even due to lack of market for their products. They have no capacity to run the factory which will require the county government to intervene.

There are 1,000 drums of fresh mango pulp at the factory that have no market .

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi who was the chief guest during the handing over ceremony assured the cooperative of county government support but asked them to send a detailed proposal to his government.

He said the county will support the cooperative finance through Mbegu Fund and shall help them get the ISO certification quickly so as to be able to compete with other manufacturers in the market.

However, the governor told the cooperative members to be ready to change their mode of operation and move away from their "normal business" of the 1990s if they are keen to compete with other players in the market.

Kingi said the cooperative has undergone many challenges in the process and may not have got any profits.

The governor said manufacturing is one of the Big Four agenda of President Uhuru Kenyatta and should be implemented by locals.

''The time has come for us to change the business model of the factory. The way we used to run this company cannot work now because of the changes of business,"he said.

Kingi said the biggest problem faced by the cooperative is lack of market. The governor told the cooperative to hire a director in charge of marketing.

Kilifi executive for Tourism,Trade and Cooperatives Nahida Mohamed said they would assign an officer of the county government to help in running the factory.

Edited by Henry Makori