Uasin Gishu County could soon have a tomato paste processing plant as an icing to an ambitious financial partnership between the County Government of Uasin Gishu and the Industrial Development Bank (IDB).
The County Government and IDB are in serious discussions whose end product could mean a complete economic transformation in terms of adding muscle to SMEs and Saccos to venture into processing.
Governor Jackson Mandago on Wednesday hosted a team from IDB led by Managing Director Karen Kandie in a meeting that commences deliberations where economic interests are being pursued.
Mandago capitalized on a statement by IDB that the financial institution has a Credit Line in India.
Youth working on tomato fields in Moiben, along the Moiben River belt are among groups to be funded to venture into value addition in form of processing tomato paste.
"...there are small processing machines in India and China and it is even an advantage that you have a credit line in India," said Mandago.
"Also, these youth need to be funded to set up irrigation projects so that they can sustain production throughout the year," he added.
Production of potatoes in Uasin Gishu County s also set to increase four-fold following positive reaction by farmers, especially after Governor Mandago pioneered a seed variety in Moiben, a Sub-County formerly 'reserved' for cereal farming.
"Already, we are considering setting up a potato crisps plant here in our county. This is a small machine that may not cost more than Ksh 4 million," noted Mandago.
"And there is a ready market for this product since we have a student concentration of up to 100,000 and Eldoret consumes tonnes of this item daily," he said.