Why Rural industrialization is Kenya’s future

H.E Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr on Thursday paid a courtesy call to the Makueni Agri-hub at Kwa Kathoka for an insight about the operations of the oil seed pressing plant.

The plant, owned by Italian firm Eni Kenya, processes vegetable oil from cotton, castor, and croton seeds for bio-refining to make biofuel.

According to a report on the project status “Seeds for Energy”, the firm is currently involving 25,000 farmers, with an early agricultural production projection of 30,000 tons per year by 2023 and an expected 200,000 tons per year by 2026 when the firm will be fully operational.

Three months ago, the firm shipped out its first vegetable oil cargo to Gela bio-refinery-one of the top innovative bio-refineries in Europe.

The Governor was thrilled by the fact that thousands of farmers in Makueni have turned to farming the firm’s raw materials, creating indirect employment opportunities for them, and directly where many people have secured jobs in the industry.

More important, Governor Mutula was elated by the company’s circular economy model in producing Agri-feedstock raw materials making livestock feeds production less cost.