Investing in Rice Milling and Processing Plant in Busia County

Busia might not ring a bell to many people since it is a small county located in the Western part of Kenya, just North East of Lake Victoria.

This small county has an extremely well positioned location for trade between Uganda and Kenya as it is in the locality of Lake Victoria and has standardized climate. These elements are key to good business. Busia County has several investment opportunities that are yet to be explored fully.

Kenya exports 40 percent of her produce to Uganda, which positions two of Busia County’s towns as gateways to East and Central Africa. Malaba and Busia registered the highest cross-border transaction in East Africa in 2014.

As in many African countries, agriculture has a lot of untapped potential that could be tapped for economic development of the county as well as of the country.

The key agricultural commodity in Busia County that needs more exploration in terms of investments is rice.

There is a need to set up a rice milling and processing facility in areas like Bunyala in Budalangi which have the best climate conditions for growth of rice. Most local rice farmers in high rice production areas in the county rely on undeveloped methods to process their produce.

Construction of a rice milling and processing plant will create an opening for increased production of rice in Busia County as more farmers will be encouraged to venture into that field. The mill will also be in a position to address the issues of value addition. This will enable farmers to increase earnings from their produce.

Rice farmers in Busia county are still grappling with low yields due to lack of quality seeds and the processing plant will be in a position to promote the development of new hybrid varieties. Advanced farming methods too will be embraced by the farmers as most of them need to embrace such methods.

Food security will also be boosted as most people in the county depend on agriculture for food. Rice is on very high demand not only in the county but in the whole country at large and beyond borders. A milling and processing plant will enable the valuable cereal to be well packaged and transported to various parts of the country with the surplus being exported beyond borders.

Kenya produces 110,000 metric tons of rice against an annual consumption of 420,000 metric tons. This means that a deficit of 310,000 metric tons is met through imports. The potential to invest in rice production in Busia County is so enormous in terms of capacity building and infrastructure development is enormous. The County is well placed for interested investors to venture into the business of rice. Making money and reducing the import burden of rice on the country sounds like a good investment.

Article by Vera Shawiza.