Kenya: Kilifi County Government to Build Palm Wine Factory in Rabai

The government and the devolved unit of Kilifi will build a 150,000-litre capacity coconut juice processor in Kwa Juaje, Rabai sub-county.

The freshly tapped palm wine, popularly known as mnazi, will be processed into industrial alcohol and yeast.

Addressing journalists at Mkapuni football grounds on Wednesday, Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamadi Boga said his ministry, through the World Bank, would support the farmers with Sh100 million for the construction of the processor while the county government would give Sh60 million.

“After consultations, we established that the best area for farmers to invest is value addition. We did not want to fund the production of mnazi but we want to help farmers to use it as raw material for the making of 95 per cent of industrial alcohol and yeast,” Prof Boga said, adding that farmers would contribute Sh4 million.

Prof Boga urged farmers meet the necessary requirements, including transferring their title deeds to Rabai Mnazi Network Cooperative Society, identifying collection centres and recruiting enough farmers to sustain the project.

“Farmers should make sure everything is in order. We need to have a strong network. The government and other stakeholders should not pump millions of shillings in the project when we are not sure of a constant supply of raw materials,” he said.

Prof Boga said the processor is one the biggest projects the government has initiated in Kilifi.

He added that the ministry would supply more coconut seedlings with short maturity period to farmers to replace the aging ones.