French bean farmers may end up earning more from their produce after the proposed French beans processing factory is complete.
Meru Greens Horticulture (MGH) director Rosemary Muthoni says the factory will be completed by mid-next year. It is expected to employ more than one thousand farmers. She said that the factory is expected to be processing more than seven million kilograms of French beans annually.
MGH deals with French beans, fruits and vegetable production. Mostly, the produce is exported to the East African region but they are targeting the larger global market.
She said: “We would like to go global. The demand will be high and because of thie, we encourage farmers to embrace French beans farming. Most of them have ignored it due to the lack of market.”
Muthoni added that the country is now facing food shortage because famers cannot produce enough food due to poor soil management. She said that with the help of United States Agency International Development (USAID), they have been able to educate more than 500 farmers.
The factory is expected to be constructed at EPZ Athi River and it will be processing and packaging the produce which will be exported directly. She added that they are currently producing 3.5 million kilograms and they expect to double this come next year.