Investors at the Bura Irrigation Scheme in Tana River County expect to increase their workforce after securing contracts for large scale commercial farming of sugarcane and rice.
Sukari Industries Limited which has secured the lease for sugar production at the scheme through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) says it has already started bush clearing and set up seed cane nurseries for commercial sugar cane production within more than 40,000 acres of land allocated in the irrigation scheme.
Sukari Industries Head of External Affairs George Mururi said that the firm targets to support the government’s job creation and food production efforts as it sets up sugar production facility in the scheme.
“Our objective is to support, complement and supplement governmental efforts in relation to creation of employment, expansion of business opportunities, engagement of the unemployed youth and so on. We believe firmly that for us to register any form of success, we need to work and walk with the community and that is what brought us here, first to unveil the project and to have a conversation with the people of Chewele,” said Mururi.
The firm says it will employ locals in the farm and the sugarcane crushing factory which is expected to help raise living standards in the county.
This comes after the launch of a 26-kilometer Bura Gravity Canal that replaced an expensive diesel pump-fed system with a gravity-fed water supply from Kora Kora earlier this year, and subsequent signing of lease agreements by investors and the government for 100,000 acres.
“At the moment we have started bush clearing and cleared around 700 acres for seed cane development which will later be transplanted into the other acres. We shall also be considering putting up a crushing facility because we are unable to evacuate those raw materials to any of our factories elsewhere,” he added.
Ramadhani Babisana, the king of the Wailwana community called on other communities surrounding the area to offer the same support to all investors and avoid politicizing the projects.
“We have had a very fruitful engagement with the investor on various issues and as a community, we receive this company so that we start working together. They have promised that there will be enough employment opportunities for our community, together with other infrastructural development,” he noted.
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