The National Irrigation Authority, in partnership with Kisumu County, has contracted Upland Crop Company, a private investor, to manage and operate the newly completed rice milling plant in Ahero, Nyando Sub-County.
During the official signing of the lease agreement, Kisumu County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, and Fisheries, Ken Onyango, highlighted the project's potential to enhance the commercial viability of the Ahero Rice Mill and drive economic growth across the region.
“This partnership symbolizes a major step towards revitalizing rice processing in the region, creating jobs, boosting the local economy, and empowering farmers with better market access and value addition opportunities,” said Onyango.
Under the agreement, Upland Crop Company will run the mill as a private enterprise, injecting much-needed capital to ensure the facility’s profitability and long-term sustainability.
The new plant is expected to offer a stable and competitive market for small- and medium-scale rice farmers across Western Kenya’s irrigation schemes. Onyango emphasized that the mill would play a critical role in increasing local rice production and narrowing the national rice deficit, aligning with the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
Built at a cost of KSh 30 million by the Kisumu County Government, the state-of-the-art mill forms part of Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o’s broader agenda to transform agriculture, enhance food security, and boost socio-economic development in the region.
With a processing capacity of 2.5 metric tons per hour—approximately 60 tons per day—the Ahero Rice Mill will provide farmers with access to quality inputs, services, and modern processing capabilities. This is expected to significantly strengthen the regional rice value chain.
As of December 2021, Kisumu had recorded impressive gains in rice farming, harvesting around 19,000 tons of paddy from 6,500 hectares, benefiting nearly 12,000 households. However, due to the lack of modern milling facilities, most of the rice was sold as unmilled paddy.
“Existing single-stage mills produce ungraded, destoned rice with high levels of breakage,” Onyango noted.
To overcome these challenges, the county has invested in a multi-stage milling plant capable of sorting, grading, and packaging rice—adding value and improving quality.
The operationalization of the Ahero Rice Mill marks a turning point for rice farming in the region and is poised to deliver lasting economic benefits to local communities.
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