Kirinyaga county sets aside Sh275M for agricultural market zone
Kirinyaga County Government has allocated Sh275 million in the proposed 2023/2024 budget for the development of Sagana Agro-Industrial Park.
The Sagana County Aggregation and Industrial Park and the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) will be established on a 250-acre land that the county government repossessed from grabbers two years ago.
The development of the industrial park will target the optimization of Kirinyaga’s agricultural production potential and it will also support the government of Kenya’s industrialisation strategy. The park will offer facilities for specialized agro-processing, agro-logistics and storage, farm machinery, equipment and services centre, social services as well as general trading services.
The industrial park will play an integral part in creating both direct and indirect employment as well as the redistribution of wealth across the county. While the upcoming industrial park is expected to attract many investors from outside the county, governor Anne Waiguru says locals will be the top beneficiaries of the ready market for their agricultural produce and thousands of employment opportunities.
The governor says park will be the first climate smart agro-industrial city in central region, and it will promote agro processing and manufacturing and will be source of employment to many of the county residents.
Some of the targeted produce for agro-processing includes tomatoes, avocadoes, milk, macadamia, fish, coffee, and tea among others.
She notes that the county farmers will greatly benefit from value addition of their crops, which will lead to better earnings for them.
“The processing factories that will come up at the industrial park will target our local produce such as tomatoes, avocado, macadamia and fish,” says Waiguru.
She notes that apart from the opportunities created inside, the industrial park, it will also spur economic growth in the surrounding areas as well as improve the county’s economic status.
Waiguru says the park will attract many investors given its close proximity to critical infrastructure such as the Kenol-Marua Dual Carriage and the Sagana Railway station. Aside from the funds, the county has set aside 100 acres of land where the park will be set up.
