Kenya is weighing a plan to lease out the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya (PPCK) as the Agriculture Ministry pushes for the only viable route to salvage a once-thriving industry that used to be among the country’s biggest foreign-exchange earners.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe told Senators that a Cabinet memo seeking the green light for the lease arrangement is ready, which would hand management of the struggling State corporation to a private operator.
Kagwe gave a blunt assessment of PPCK’s finances, noting that the firm brings in barely KSh35 million a year, with peak performance hitting KSh60 million, yet it is weighed down by a staggering KSh3.5 billion in debts, including supplier arrears and unpaid pensions.
The State injected KSh105 million in 2024/25 and KSh125 million this year, but the sums fall far short of what is required to revive an industry long battered by mismanagement and chronic delays in paying farmers. Kagwe said the current model is unsustainable, with the processor unable to fund research, support growers or maintain regular operations.
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Farmers are owed KSh10 million for deliveries made between August and October, a backlog the Government has pledged to clear immediately. A plan to dispose of some assets to offset debts stalled after valuation hitches, leaving leasing as the only practical path.
What the leasing plan entails
The Government intends to first tidy up PPCK’s balance sheet and commission a fresh valuation before contracting a private operator. Kagwe said Cabinet approval would open the door to a long-term restructuring blueprint similar to those that have revived other sectors using private funding and technical capacity.
He was responding to questions from Kisumu Senator Prof Tom Ojienda, who sought updates on production trends, market prospects and the overall health of the pyrethrum value chain.
Kagwe defended ongoing Government interventions, saying confidence in the sub-sector is slowly returning. Counties including West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nyandarua, Nakuru and Kericho have received millions of improved planting materials, from seedlings and tissue-culture plantlets to clonal varieties.
He also pointed to emerging public-private partnerships with firms such as Botanical Extracts, Kentegra Biotechnology and Africhem Technologies to scale up processing and commercial applications of pyrethrin.
On the market front, the CS said the State is tightening regulatory compliance through the draft Crops (Pyrethrum) Regulations, 2024 and leveraging Kenya’s membership in the Pyrethrum Joint Venture to align with standards demanded by US and EU regulators. PPCK has additionally registered seven pyrethrum-based products across animal health, agriculture, public health and industrial use.
