AGRO PROCESSING

VALUE ADDITION
Meru is one of the food baskets of the country. However farmers remain largely impoverished as a result of huge post-harvest losses, middlemen crisis, very low on and off farm prices and gradually declining yields.
MCIDC in collaboration with USAID undertook feasibility studies for four major value chains with an aim of adding value to farm produce, industrializing the county and improving welfare of the people through jobs creation, offering better prices to farmers and turning around the economic fortunes of Meru.

This proved the much needed intervention. Tabulated below are major points to note based on our findings and analysis.

a) Agro-processing

	Potatoes	Bananas	Avocado	Leather
Plant Size	2 tons@Hr.	8 tons@Hr.	225 tons output @Yr.	3 tons of hides/85 Hides /220 skins @Day
Derivatives	Frozen Fries, Flakes &Starch	Puree, Flour & crisps	Avocado oil	Wet blue Leather
Preliminary Cost($)	$5,104,632	$8,718,062	$953,729	$2,121,928
Deal Structure	Joint Venture with Avani Foods LLP	Joint Venture	Exclusive Investment or JV	PPP
County govt.Equity Participation Form	Leasehold Interests Financial Capitalization Farmers sensitization & capacity Building	Leasehold Interests Financial Capitalization	Land Leasehold interests Direct cash capitalization	Land leasehold interests. Inputs aggregation Farmers sensitization
Proposed Plant Location	Kisima Ward Buuri Sub-county	Imenti South Sub-county	Tigania	Igembe
Project Status	Mazda Company contracted to undertake PDD and equipment manufacture	Pitching	Variety validation	Investor sourcing
Action Points	County govt.to quickly move to allocate a new piece of land as the one committed earlier was discovered later be in private hands	County govt.to allocate a piece of land to the project SPV	County govt.to accommodate equity participation in development budget &set aside land for the project	County govt.to accommodate equity participation in development budget &set aside land for the project

b) Thimangiri Slaughterhouse



Project Background$Rationale	The Thimangiri slaughterhouse is a prime asset located in Nyaki West ward, North Imenti subcounty.The asset was a great life line for the local community as it was strategic, affordable and had sufficient capacity to cater for large numbers of livestock from within and the environs .This facility played a key role in shaping the local economy, empowering the local business community, creation of jobs as well as a revenue source for the local authority The facility was shut approximately five years ago due to operational inefficiencies and management problems by the private player contracted to run it and has been unutilized ever since. This has cost the local community in terms of loss of jobs, exploitation of local business community by private players, and general slowdown of the local economy. The facility was in dire need of major repairs before operations

Current Status	The corporation has done basic repairs to the facility and is ready for operations after inspection certificate is issued. The corporation shall run the facility on a viable and efficient commercial model to ensure social benefits to the community and revenue generation to the county government and long term sustainability.

Economic Benefits	Catalyze the local community's socio-economic welfare through creation of employment, market for livestock and revenue to govt. Promote the local business community by provision of the essential service at fair prices and at a much shorter distance Create the much needed capacity to cater for the livestock slaughtering needs of the community and its environs
Bigger picture	To convert Thimangiri slaughterhouse into an integrated meat and animal products processing plant to serve demand of the neighboring counties

AGRO PROCESSING/VALUE ADDITION