British firm takes up mega bamboo farming to produce textile items

Philip Karoki, a worker at a bamboo farm in Gathehu Village, Nyeri County. Bamboo has plenty of uses such as construction, charcoal, pulp, furniture, toothpicks and crafts. [PHOTO:KIBATA KIHU/STANDARD]

A United Kingdom agricultural firm is seeking to open major commercial bamboo cultivation along the Kenyan Coast for the manufacture of textiles, food and fragrances.

Africa Plantation Capital, a subsidiary of Britain’s Plantation Capital, is at advanced stages of planting the first phase of commercial bamboo farming on 1,000 acres in Kilifi County.