Bungoma county government is set to partner with the British government through the Sustainable Urban Economic Development programme, SUED to boost sectors of urban infrastructure and agriculture.
SUED is a six-year programme supported by the UK government, aimed at supporting selected counties to be better prepared to manage their urban areas well.
It provides small amounts of concessional finance to de-risk projects and mobilize private investment into climate-resilient infrastructure and value chains and further builds capacity of the municipal team to implement the urban economic plans.
Among the program lined up include the dairy processing in Webuye that aims at the development and upgrading of the existing milk processing plant and the integration of related value chain processes to improve milk production in Bungoma County.
In a meeting where the team paid a courtesy call to Bungoma governor Kenneth Lusaka, British high commission’s economic counselor and head of section Mike Foster said the project will go a long way to change the live hoods of many residents.
“If well implemented the project will be major boost to local famers and change their economic livelihoods,” he said
The partnership also seeks to set up an integrated poultry project in Chwele, which will focus on establishing a slaughterhouse for indigenous chicken, a hatchery and feed mill, among other integrated activities in the value chain.
“I have always had a vision of boosting our poultry farmers and that’s exactly the reason I started the Chwele slaughter house, when I was the permanent secretary for Livestock. I believe our people if assisted can make poultry a major money making venture in the region,” said Lusaka.
He added that locals should change the way they do poultry farming and break away from the old traditional ways.
Also lined up is the setting up of construction blocks at Ndengelwa/Namosi, which is about interlocking construction blocks and other low-cost building materials.
“The project is envisaged to produce blocks, roofing panels, develop demonstration housing schemes and provide training to construction crews,” said the SUED team leader, John Kashangaki.
The partnership will also seek to start a Solar PV generation project, which will provide enough renewable energy to support the SUED projects and the Municipality’s general development aspirations.
Solar refrigeration cold chains will also be put up with the aim of providing cold storage stores in agricultural hub locations to support farmers who currently have no access to the same.
Kashangaki also said organic waste project which entails providing sustainable ways of managing organic solid waste through the construction of an Anaerobic Digester (AD) will be set up.
“Once the organic waste is collected, it would be processed through the AD, which can produce fertilizer and biogas,” he said.
By Olivia Bikala and Roseland Lumwamu
