AGRICULTURE
Introduction
Kisii County enjoys favorable climatic conditions that favour agriculture. This sector thus provides the veins that keep the county economy productive. The sector employs over 80% of the county’s workforce; is a source of household income raw materials for agro-based industries; assists in environmental conservation. Agriculture is mainly small scale with production of food crops using non-mechanized techniques.
The Kisii county government will encourage value addition to crops that are produced within the county. These include developing fruit processing industries like Avocados, pineapples, bananas packaging and branding commodities from the county and establishing linkages with research institutions to develop better crops.
Coffee: The Arabica coffee grown in Kisii County is among the best in the world yet is unknown as it is used for blending with coffee from other countries so as to improve their quality. The county is seeking for an investor to set up a facility to process, brand and market this unique product.
Tea: The top ranked tea at the Mombasa auction is from Kisii County and like in coffee we are seeking for an investor to brand and market our tea both locally and internationally. An investment opportunity also exists in the area of a green tea factory.
Fruit Processing: The county has an abundant supply of fruits (passion fruit, pineapples, tomatoes, oranges) for a fruit processing plant. This can be juice extraction, canning, jams, marmalade, etc. Also, there is an oversupply of avocados to support a medium sized plant to process the fruit into various products.
Pyrethrum: Kisii County was at one time the world leader in the production of pyrethrum which it lost due to the introduction of synthetic products. With the world getting more environmentally aware, the demand for natural solutions has grown. An investment opportunity exists for a plant to extract pyrethrin as an insecticide.
Bananas: Various varieties of bananas grow in the county making this the most attractive agro - product for value addition due to its abundance. Investors are invited to set up processing plants for this readily available products into juice, crisps, wafers, cakes and flour amongst others.