Sh20 Million Plant is a Juicy Deal for Mango Farmers

Hassan Barisa and Mark Agutu

29 June 2011

Nairobi — The planned construction of a Sh20 million mango juice plant at Hola is music to the ears of Tana River residents.

For the first time they will have a factory on their doorstep to buy and process the tonnes of mangoes that have been going to waste because of the lack of a ready market.

For years, farmers have had to contend with exploitative middlemen who buy their mangoes at throw-away prices, only to sell them in distant towns for more than 10 times the price.

“They buy my mangoes at only Sh2 each and I have to sell to them otherwise they will rot,” said Mr Mgawa Guyo.

The same mangoes sell for Sh20-25 when they reach the markets in Mombasa, Malindi, Kilifi and Lamu.

Residents pick up the ripe fruits that fall or pluck them from the trees and pile them on the roadside, with the hope of catching the eyes of motorists driving by.

For the lucky ones, a dealer occasionally comes by in a lorry and buys sacks of the fruit.

Even luckier farmers have their mangoes bought by the juice processing plant at Mtwapa, which bottles the popular Piccana drink.

With the building of a second plant at Hola, farmers are hoping for better times ahead.

The project is among those identified as suitable for Tana River under the Economic Stimulus Programme and is expected to boost locals’ income and cushion them against poverty.

A 20-acre plot has been set aside at Boji in Galole on the main Hola-Mombasa highway for the plant and an office has been put up from where officials are co-ordinating the construction.

According to the Galole CDF committee chairman, Mr Said Waldea Kidoso, plans for the project are at an advanced stage.

Mr Kenneth Galana, executive secretary for the Mango Farmers Co-operative Society, said bad roads and a lack of cold storage meant thousands of tonnes of fruits, rot on the farms.

But farmers may also have a challenge meeting the requirements of the factory in future.

The fact that most of the land in the county is communally-owned means mango trees remain largely unattended, with many being cut down by charcoal burners.

The worrying outcome is that with time, and because mangoes trees take long to mature, there may not be enough trees to sustain demand once the juicing plant is running.

Coupled with the fact that residents have not been planting new mango trees, demand might soon outstrip the supply.

“There are not many young trees to see around and that means nobody is bothering to plant or tend the young trees that will give mangoes many years down the line,” said Mr Philip Oloo, the project manager at Tana Delta Irrigation Project.

Besides mangoes, other fruits that thrive on the banks of River Tana are bananas, watermelons, paw paws and pineapples.

Meanwhile, the revival of the Bura and Hola irrigation schemes has offered a new lease of life to the region.

Due to mismanagement and a myriad other factors, the two schemes which were once bastions for cotton and maize farming, had gradually ground to a halt, throwing thousands of people out of work and others fleeing to seek livelihoods elsewhere.

But their revival has improved the road network in the county which is set to be a magnet for migrant workers once again.

The National Irrigation Board revived the schemes in December 2005, by the National Irrigation Board.

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