Farmers Choice plans Sh225m slaughterhouse for Nairobi

By John Njiraini

Livestock farmers will benefit from an expanded market, after Farmers Choice announced plans to build a Sh225 million slaughterhouse in Kahawa West in Nairobi.

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nortura, the largest meat processor in Norway for construction of the export licensed beef abattoir with a capacity of slaughtering 600 animals every week.

This will increase competition for the struggling State-owned Kenya Meat Commission. Farmers Choice Managing Director, James Taylor said the slaughterhouse that would be operational in 12 months and employ 120 people.

LACK OF MARKETS

"We will buy livestock from all parts of the country at market rates," he said during the signing ceremony in Nairobi on Friday.

The new facility comes at a time when livestock farmers are complaining of lack of market for their cattle and abandonment by the Government, which they accuse of being insensitive to their plight. The livestock industry, has remained largely unexploited according to studies by the International Livestock Research Institute. It accounts for 10 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and over 30 per cent of the farm-gate value of agricultural commodities. The sector employs over 50 per cent of the agricultural labour force, and accounts for nearly 90 per cent of employment and 95 per cent of family incomes in the arid and semi arid areas.

Taylor said that the facility would be Halal compliant (processing food that is permissible according to Islamic law) and would enable Farmers Choice not only to serve the domestic market but also venture into the beef export markets in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Norway.

He explained that the company had acquired land, where the facility will be built, and has received safety approvals from the National Environmental Management Authority.