• This, he said, will boost production of the crop not only in the county but across the country.
• “We want every county to export mangoes. This is the cash crop in Makueni and many other regions. But, the people who grow it don’t receive any money,” Kilonzo said.
Image: GEORGE OWITI
Mango farmers should be advanced some money to boost their production, Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Junior has said.
Kilonzo said the ongoing first national mango conference and exhibition in Makueni County was discussing among other issues the need for establishing a fund similar to coffee’s Cherry Fund.
This, he said, will boost production of the crop not only in the county but across the country.
“We want every county to export mangoes. This is the cash crop in Makueni and many other regions. But, the people who grow it don’t receive any money,” Kilonzo said.
The governor spoke during the first ever mango conference and exhibition in Wote, Makueni County on Tuesday. He said 15 counties were attending the event.
“We are in discussion with the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) through the Agricultural Crops and Development Authority, Coffee got money called Cherry Fund, Sh9 billion we want to have a discussion about a fund for mangoes where mango farmers can be advanced some money," Kilonzo said.
"Once that money is advanced just like in other sectors like tea, then you create hope so that mango farmers and young people looking for money can quickly get money, improve the economy,” Kilonzo said.
He said agriculture plays a crucial role in the country where 79 per cent of households depend on it for their livelihoods.
Kilonzo said it accounts for 29.5 per cent of the county's total Gross Domestic Product.
“It’s therefore imperative that we continue to invest in agriculture to boost our economy and improve the livelihoods of our people,” Kilonzo said.
He said Makueni County was the leading producer of mangoes in Kenya, contributing 34 per cent by value in 2021.
“Over 70,000 households engaged in mango farming, which is 36 per cent of all farming households. We have established about four million mango trees, producing an estimated 255,700 MT of mangoes in 2021, valued at about Sh4.2 billion,” Kilonzo said.
He said despite the tremendous progress, Makueni farmers had not fully benefited from the mango investment.
"This has led to a decline in the area under mango cultivation from 33,000 ha in 2018 to 29,000 ha in 2021, with a projection of further decline unless we take urgent measures to address the constraints along the value chain, especially marketing,” he said.
The governor said some of the major challenges include inadequate clean planting materials, exorbitant farm input, lack of technical know-how, pests and diseases, unreliable export markets, cartels controlling domestic fresh fruit markets, lack of business documents hindering SMEs from dealing directly with markets, weak cooperative societies due to ineffective governance, limited compliance with global GAP and long distances to global markets among others.
"I’m pleased to note that my administration has made significant investments to help unlock the mango value chain albeit with limited success. These investments include the mango processing plant at Kalamba which has a line under installation for processing mango juice.
"The juice production line was procured with support from the European Union through the state Department of Devolution that the Deputy President’s office,” Kilonzo said.
He said they were in the final stages of installation and training on the Ready to Drink line and plan to fully operationalise it in next financial year in partnership with private sector.
Kilonzo said in the last mango season from December 2022 to March 2023, the factory processed an estimated one million kilograms of mango and produced 500 MT of puree.
"This is a product which complies with international standards and I therefore urge local juice processors to off take the puree for juice production," he said.