House committee gives Kibos rice mill a green light
Parliamentary Committee on Development has given the green light for the construction of new rice mill at Kibos in Kisumu.
The committee last Friday visited the new rice mill at Kibos, which is being constructed by the Lake Basin Development Authority and gave it a thumbs up. It appealed to the government to fast-track the allocation of funds to be used in completing the construction of the factory to help uplift rice farming in the area.
Economic status
Maragua MP Mary Wamaua, who is also the Deputy Chair of the Committee, said, “I want to say today that they have done great, though there are a few challenges pertaining to the money that has been appropriated to them that have not been given 100 per cent, but we have seen that the much that has been given to them has been made good use of, and there is value for money, although there are some projects that have not yet been picked up because the money required is a lot.”
Wamaua said the rice mill would greatly help improve the economic status of rice farmers in Nyanza.
“This is a project totaling Sh75 million, and there is still some pending money. Yet they are producing because they are able to buy rice from farmers, and they are milling and getting whatever they are getting. They are then able to sell, and therefore this is a promise to the farmers that they grow rice because there is a ready market, and when they sell, they get money that can help them meet related expenditures like paying the staff and have something extra to use in running the project,” she said.
Matungu MP Peter Nabulindo said the new Kibos mill has the potential to employ many workers, thereby easing the prevailing unemployment rate.
The first machine at the mill was installed in 1996 with an installation capacity of 3.5 tonnes per hour which translates to 24,000 metric tonnes per annum.
The milling capacity had significantly reduced over the years to an average of 0.87 tonnes per hour due to continuous wear and tear and outdated technology which rendered the machine very inefficient.
