Nakuru chairman of Commerce Julie Njuguna now wants the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK) to lease out the 800-acre piece of land allegedly lying idle to the youth in the area.
Njuguna said that the youth had showed interest in cultivating the flower but did not have access to land.
Speaking during a tour of the defunct factory by youth from Nakuru County on Wednesday, Njuguna challenged the parastatal management to issue the land for cultivation.
She said that they still were forced to carry pyrethrum in pick-up trucks instead of lorries.
PBK Deputy Managing Director, Mary Onsiri, said that there was an acute shortage of the number of flowers produced in the county.
“We are now trying to encourage farmers to engage in cultivation since it’s a very lucrative crop. A kilo of pyrethrum goes for between Sh100 and Sh365,” she added.
Onsiri cited the demand for pyrethrum which stands at 8,000 tonnes yet the countries only produce 1,000 tonnes of pyrethrum. She pointed out that the company has been forced to retrench the workers from 2,000 to 200 as farmers had ditched planting the flowers.
“Our biggest challenge is collecting the flowers with a pick up from areas as far as Naivasha and Molo. We also have one extension officer in each of the regions and it becomes hard for him to follow up on all the farmers,” she added.
Onsiri said that a packet of the pyrethrum seeds retail at Sh300 per packet.
“In October we intend to start selling the seedling at Sh2 per stem to encourage farmers to plant the product,” she added.