Governor, firm sign Sh20b cocoa farming deal

BEAR Machines East Africa CEO Gary Roy signs an MOU with Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung'aro at the governor's residence in Kilifi town. [ Marion Kithi, Standard]

Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung'aro has inked a Sh20 billion deal to fund organic cocoa farming.

Mung'aro said Bear Machines East Africa would finance coconut and cashew nut farmers to diversify to cocoa to improve their earnings.

"A technical team will see how many farmers can be incorporated and how much land the county can give for the model farm along the Sabaki River in Magarini Sub-County," he said.

The agribusiness firm marketing manager, Antony Mugwanja, said they had set aside over Sh20 billion to introduce high-yielding, pest and disease-resistant cocoa variety.

He said Kilifi, which has been predominantly a cashew nut, cassava and coconut farming region, was suitable for cocoa due to its humid climatic condition and sandy loam soil.

''We have since conducted a feasibility study in collaboration with Kenya Agricultural Research Organization, which then paved the way for the signing of the MoU," he said.

The project aims to produce 1.5 million metric tons of cocoa per acre per year in the first harvest before expanding.

"We are injecting a capital size of $162 million within the next two years. We are bringing a high breed, pests, and diseases resistance variety called forastero cocoa," said Mugwanja.

He said a nuclear farm of 100,000 acres has been established. Later, farmers trained to adopt new technology and agricultural practices would be brought on board.

"We have further assured them in the MoU that we shall purchase all the cocoa beans grown by the farmers for sustainability," added Mugwanja.

The company projects that the first cocoa harvest would start next year given the crop takes about two and a half years to mature and "if that happens, an interim crop will give us two harvests in a year."

The crop has a lifespan of between 30 and 40 years.