By SHAMLAL PURI
Kericho County will soon start exporting fruits, vegetables and other fresh produce to the UK, area Governor Paul Chepkwony has said.
The governor, who toured the newly-opened Kenya Coffee House in east London on Sunday where he met the Kenyan community, also said Kericho had the capacity to meet UK market’s demand for high quality coffee.
Kenya Coffee House plans to import their coffee and tea from Kericho and Mr Chepkwony assured them that the county was capable of supplying them high quality produce.
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The governor, who is on a one- week tour of the UK to lobby for investment for his county, has so far met potential investors and also visited several universities.
On Friday, he visited the New Spitalfields Market in London where he met the directors of Sahara Communities Abroad (Sacoma), leading importers and wholesalers of Kenyan fresh produce.
The governor toured the market and said he was impressed with the opportunities it presented to farmers in his county. Mr Chepkwony confirmed that pineapples, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, French beans, traditional herbs, chillies and other fresh produce from Kericho can be produced in bulk by farmers’ associations and exported to the UK.
The governor and Sacoma’s Director Perez Owori later signed a memorandum of understanding for importation of produce from Kericho to Britain.
A team from Sacoma is scheduled to visit Kericho on September 5.
Chepkwony’s visit to the UK was organised by Techgaa Association of Kericho and the Kenyan Diaspora in the UK.
Chepkwony’s itinerary also includes visits to global tea plantation owners James Finley, who have heavy investments in tea estates in Kericho, the Kenya High Commission and Jaguar Car Factory in Coventry.
The London-based TV network UKenTV hailed the trip as a success.
“We were impressed by the officials of Techgaa Association for pulling this off. The other counties can only emulate what has already been done by Kericho and its UK Diaspora.”
