Gov’t Reveals Plan to Lease Another State Corporation as Pyrethrum Sector Reforms Intensify

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has also confirmed that it is collaborating with the National Treasury to come up with an agreement to lease the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya (PPCK), a step the government feels will enable to revive the ailing pyrethrum industry.

This is after being disclosed on Wednesday, November 19, as Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe appeared before the Senate plenary to answer questions on the state of the once-vibrant pyrethrum industry.

Kagwe has justified that, leasing PPCK had become the best alternative to consider after years of financial stress, waning productivity, and challenges in running the institution which has made it weak.

He observed that despite the fact that the government has, over the years pumped funds into PPCK, the financial aid has not been adequate enough to completely rejuvenate the firm to its previous commercial heights.

As the CS indicates, capital to stabilise and expand the production of pyrethrum would be provided by collaborating with the private investors using a leasing model that would furnish the capital, technology capacity and efficiency of operations.

The questions could be seen as a catalyst of the Senate session, when Kisumu Senator Prof. Tom Ojienda wanted to understand the state of the pyrethrum farming, the future of the crop, market opportunities and the overall strategy of the government to revive the sub-sector.

Kagwe responded by defending the government strategy, where he stated that continued reforms were slowly restoring confidence among farmers and processors.

He highlighted the fact that at some point in time, pyrethrum was among the most celebrated foreign exchange earners in Kenya and that the government will ensure that it regains its position.

Kagwe also discussed the issue of pyrethrum applicability in other areas in response to the enquiries concerning Homa Bay County.

According to him, the county failed to give the needed ecological levels to grow pyrethrum.

He said the crop grows in high altitude regions with moderate temperatures and uniform rainfall which is not the case with Homa Bay. These results, he added, were confirmed by a letter of May 28, 2025, by the county.

Appropriate planting sites of pyrethrum are limited to the highlands of Kenya, with North Rift, South Rift, Central, Eastern, and Small Nyanza regions (Nyamira and Kisii) being some of the areas. These areas are naturally endowed with the climate required to give high-quality pyrethrin content.

Going to the sector reforms, Kagwe indicated that the government is giving priority to the distribution of clean, high-quality planting materials to improve productivity. Counties to which seedlings and clonal materials have already been provided include West Pokot, Nyandarua, Nakuru, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Kericho, among others, in millions.

Muguga and Molo laboratories are already cloning more clonal materials enlisted through the use of tissue culture to make sure farmers keep receiving high-yield varieties of diseases with no resistance.

The CS also highlighted the need to strengthen the public-private relationships with the aim of repositioning the sub-sector.

He gave names of companies like Botanical Extracts, Kentegra Biotechnology and Africhem Technologies as some of the major partners already involved with the government. He claimed that these partnerships are very crucial in making the industry more competitive and that Kenya can be reinstated to its niche in the world market of pyrethrin. Nonetheless, Kagwe acknowledged that financing is a major problem despite the reforms. In the 2024/25 and the current financial years, PPCK received Ksh105 and Ksh125 million, respectively.

He, however, admitted that these allocations are not sufficient to bring the sector to full life. Revealed PPCK, the company has a production range of between Ksh35 million and Ksh60 million a year but is constrained by a phenomenal tap of Ksh3.5 billion.

The CS also touched on the issue of late payments to farmers, saying that the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has been controlling all the actors to make sure that the payment is made on time and is done according to the content of pyrethrins.

To assist farmers with their agronomic requirements, PPCK had installed an advance-payment model, and this model has been hindered by the financial constraints of cash flow. The timing of the briefing given by Kagwe is when the government is making a number of other privatisation attempts to decrease the direct participation of the state in trade ventures.

In October earlier, the Privatization Commission affirmed that Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) will be partially privatised, timelines to which will be fulfilled by March 31, 2026. The deal which is endorsed by the Cabinet and the National Assembly, will be implemented through an Initial Public Offering in the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The relocation, according to the Cabinet, is part of a wider policy change, which will enable the private sector to become central in achieving efficiency, innovation, and commercial development.

In spite of the fact that KPC has been profitable, the government observed that bureaucratic limitations and inefficiencies in the public sector have prevented the full realization of the company.

The injection of foreign capital and professional skills are likely to make KPC one of the regional giants in logistics and energy. With the government still working on implementing the reforms in various areas, the leasing of PPCK, as it is proposed, is an indication that a major milestone will be made in reviving the pyrethrum industry in Kenya, an activity that is geared towards resurrection as a major player in the national economy.