Kindiki calls for urgent county-level preparedness ahead of El Nino rains

Speaking during a high-level meeting at his official residence in Karen, Kindiki said the gathering had resolved the bottlenecks that had stalled the completion, commissioning and operationalization of the CAIPs, paving the way for eight parks to be commissioned before the end of the year and another 13 by March next year.

The Meru County Aggregation and Industrial Park will be the first to go live, with President William Ruto set to commission it later this month. It will be followed by the Embu, Kirinyaga, Garissa, Wajir, Migori, Kisii and Busia CAIPs, all expected to be operational by December.

According to Kindiki, each park has been designed to focus on the value addition of a single product to guarantee sustainability, before expanding into other product lines. The model is expected to create jobs, open up new income streams and boost earnings for farmers and livestock keepers at the grassroots.

Meru and Embu will anchor their operations on macadamia value addition, while Kirinyaga rolls out tomato paste production. Wajir has settled on leather and camel milk processing, Kisii will concentrate on avocado oil, and Busia will focus on cassava starch. Garissa's park will process sunflower oil, while Migori's will manufacture fish feed.

To support raw material supply into the parks, Kindiki said the government had rolled out several interventions to cushion farmers, among them a reduction in the price of certified seed, fertilizer and sexed semen. He said the measures were expected to boost production of crops, milk and meat, the core raw materials required for aggregation and value addition at the CAIPs.

On disaster preparedness, the Deputy President urged Kenyans to cooperate with security and disaster management officers and heed their directives as the country braces for above normal, torrential rains forecast to begin soon.