Sisal Farming in Taita Taveta County

Taita Taveta county is located on the Coastal region of Kenya. The county is known for its large scale sisal farming.

Whenever one visits Taita Taveta county, you will not fail to recognize the huge sisal plantations that give a beautiful scenery of this profitable cash crop. There are over 300,000 acres of land in the county that only contain sisal. This paves way for good investment opportunities in the sisal sector.

Sisal farming is a key income earner in any given country but in Taita Taveta, that potential has not yet been fully exploited. This has made this field to remain as a “sleeping giant”.

Taita Taveta has been ranked as the first in sisal production in East Africa, this shows how the county holds very great potential in the production of the best sisal fibers not only in Kenya but in the region.

The potential value of sisal in strengthening the economic value of the county and the country at large is very high. This will be achieved when these area is fully concentrated upon and exploited.

A sisal factory is the ideal investment area in Taita Taveta County. This will mean that more efforts will be added by the farmers as they will be sure that they will not incur great losses after harvesting their produce.

Apart from the large scale farming of sisal, those with small farms will also be encouraged to take up small scale sisal farming thus increasing production rate of the crop. Sisal occupies the sixth position among fibre plants and it is classified as one of the world’s most important natural fibres.

A research showed that Kenya was ranked third largest sisal producer, this is one of the reasons why investing in the sisal production industry in Taita Taveta county will generate higher profits on the crop as it will be exported to international markets, while some will also be used in the local markets

Sisal fibres are used in making of ropes, carpets, rugs, brushes used in machinery, gloves and even making of furniture. These are high income generating products that result from sisal farming. Synthetic fibre should not overtake the natural fibres found from sisal and therefore this field has to be exploited fully, starting with the available resources in Taita Taveta county.

Article by Vera Shawiza.