Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has said that County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) will bring huge relief to farmers, saying they will cut out brokers.
Speaking on Monday when he inspected the Meru County Aggregation and Industrial Park in Buuri Constituency, Kindiki said that they will also give relief to post-harvest struggles, such as storage and low sales.
"The CAIPS will be a big relief to farmers from brokers, postharvest, storage, and low sale losses," he said.
He noted that currently, there are at least 13 CAIPs set for completion and will be commissioned by President William Ruto by the end of the year.
The DP said that work for the other 34 industrial parks across 34 counties will commence next year and be completed by 2027.
Kindiki reiterated that the Kenya Kwanza Administration’s commitment is to fulfil its manifesto, as promised to the people of Kenya.
He noted that the construction of CAIPs in each county is in line with the realisation of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Plan.
The Industrial Parks are being jointly established in collaboration with the county governments and development partners, including the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
The Deputy President outlined the importance of the parks, saying that the farmers have encountered losses in post-harvest, storage, and low sales because of brokers.
For each CAIP, the national government has allocated Sh250 million, and the respective county government matches with another Sh250 million.
CAIPs have aggregation centres and value addition sections to prevent post-harvest losses at the grassroots by receiving and storing all harvests.
The Meru CAIP is 85 per cent done with full completion set for June 30.
Kindiki added that once completed, it is expected to create about 700 direct jobs and over 100,000 indirect jobs, among other social and economic impacts, to the entire Meru County and North Eastern Counties as target Markets owing to its positioning.
