The government is now inching closer to a full overhaul of the troubled Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya (PPCK).
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, who spoke when he appeared before the Senate plenary on Wednesday, revealed that a Cabinet decision on leasing the state corporation is now imminent.
Kagwe said the proposal to bring in a private operator, now formally captured in a Cabinet Memorandum, follows months of internal consultations and enjoys strong support from PPCK employees, who view private-sector participation as the only viable route to restoring the company’s viability and the sector’s long-lost glory.
In his submission, the CS painted a stark picture of PPCK’s current financial distress, noting that the organisation generates only Sh35 million annually, with its best performance in recent years reaching Sh60 million.
At that level, Kagwe said, the agency cannot meet even its most basic operational needs.
More worrying is the absence of any funding for research and development, a key pillar in reviving the pyrethrum value chain and sustaining global market relevance.
“There is simply not enough money to sustain the organisation itself,” Kagwe told Senators, stressing that the existing structure is incapable of steering the sector’s turnaround.
He revealed that farmers supplying pyrethrum are currently owed Sh10 million for deliveries made over the past three months, arrears that the Government has committed to clear immediately.
But Kagwe warned that this short-term intervention does not address PPCK’s biggest hurdle: a crippling Sh3.5 billion debt portfolio, comprising outstanding payments to suppliers and accumulated staff pension arrears.
Although there had been proposals to sell some PPCK assets to offset the debt, the CS explained that the process stalled due to delayed valuation reports.
“No assets have been sold to date,” he confirmed, adding that any future restructuring must follow proper valuation, transparency and accountability standards.
With leasing now positioned as the preferred restructuring model, Kagwe said the government must first clean up PPCK’s balance sheet, undertake a fresh, credible valuation of its assets and conduct comprehensive due diligence before inviting a private operator to take over.
He said Cabinet approval would pave the way for a long-term, sustainable operational framework aligned with successful models seen in competitive private industries.
In his wider brief to the Senate, Kagwe outlined several interventions the Ministry is rolling out to rebuild the pyrethrum sector.
These include distribution of clean planting materials, expansion of extension services, enhanced certification of nursery operators and alignment of domestic production standards with international regulatory requirements to boost export readiness.
Despite the depth of PPCK’s challenges, Kagwe reassured farmers that the government remains committed to stabilising payments, safeguarding their livelihoods and positioning the pyrethrum industry for global competitiveness under a modernised, private-sector-driven policy framework.
