By Reporter
National Government to Invest in Lamu Industries, Boosting Jobs and Economic Opportunities
The national government will provide support for target industries within Lamu in a bid to spur the growth of jobs and investment opportunities within the frontier county.
Speaking during the Medium Term Plan dissemination stakeholders forum in Lamu Island today, the PS stated that the national government besides investing Kshs 60 billion towards the operationalization of the Lamu Port, plans were underway to support the establishment of processing plants in; fishing, fruit, cotton, coconut and cashewnuts.
He cited that investors had already been tapped to invest in the special economic zone, which he highlighted would be suitable cogs towards the success of the LAPSSET project.
“Over 7,000 cashew nut farmers in Lamu will benefit from the processing plant that will be set up in Hindi ward later this year,” Abubakar said, adding that the cashew nut processing is expected to create at least 200 immediate jobs for the local Hindi town.
The construction of the factory will begin later this year with the support of the UK through the Sustainable Urban Economic Development programme.
The factory is expected to process 142 Metric Tonnes of raw cashews in the first year, increasing to 3,500MT within five years.
He further revealed that the national government was also looking to rope in a second investor interested in establishing a modern state of the art fish processing plant to supplement the existing one in Amu Island.
Lamu’s first fish processing plant was built in 2019, located near Lamu Fisheries offices in Amu Island at a cost of Sh 16million, funded by the county government and the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The objective of the fish processing plant was to handle surplus production of fish especially tuna and to further boost fish production, reduce wastage and boost fish supplies and circulation of money in the domestic economy.
“With fishing employing atleast 6,000 fishermen there is a growing need especially as the national government seeks to expand opportunities within the blue economy to empower the sector in growing from the existing cottage industry to a more commercialized business that will employ more than 10,000 youths in future,” he added.
He further revealed that enquiries have also been made by an investor to start a fruit processing plant in Mpeketoni following due to Lamu being considered a major fruit producer in the region.
The Trade and Investments PS further noted that the county government has already made it clear that land will be provided for investors seeking to start up value addition plants.
Lamu County Governor Issa Timamy has previously intimated that the county government has set aside 15 acres of land in the Sinambio area for a cotton ginnery that will be built in conjunction with Thika Texile mills with the potential to process 20,000 metric tonnes of cotton fiber annually from Lamu farmers.
Lamu is the leading cotton producer in the country, with an estimated 3,000 metric tonnes of cotton produced per year, followed by Meru (811 metric tonnes), Siaya (694 metric tonnes) and Homa Bay (468 metric tonnes).
“The establishment of a factory in Lamu will mean the creation of employment for youth and with the port now in operation, the export of surplus processed cotton will mean more benefits,” the PS noted.
