President Uhuru Kenyatta is planning to copy a Ksh4 billion project from Namibia following his recent visit during the country's 29th Independence Day celebrations on 21 March.
According to Uhuru's Personal Assistant (PA) Jomo Gecaga, the Head of State was impressed by Seaflower Pelagic Processing factory in Walvis Bay, Namibia, the biggest fish freezing factory in Africa.
As a follow up on the tour, Gecaga revealed that Uhuru had instructed the Agriculture CS Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri and his Industry counterpart Peter Munya to follow up and ensure Kenya gets a similar facility in the future.
The factory was set up through a partnership between the Namibian Government and a private investor.
Seaflower Pelagic Processing factory freezes 600 tonnes of fish on a daily basis and has created jobs for 700 people.
The Government reportedly embarked on the project to strengthen the fishing industry in order to give Namibia a food security guarantee according to Namibia’s Vice President Dr Nangolo Mbumba.
In November 2018, Nairobi hosted the first ever global conference on the Sustainable Blue Economy which focused on exploring the immense marine resources and creating economic growth, ensuring healthy waters and building safe communities.
In September 2017, a report by Business Daily Africa indicated that a Ksh60 million fish factory built in Nyeri was receiving an average of four fish per day against a daily capacity of two tonnes due to low fish production by farmers.
The factory situated at Wamagana in Tetu Sub-County and run by the county government was part of the fish farming initiative under the government's Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP) in the 2009/10 financial year.
As of September 2017, the factory had only received and processed 758 kilogrammes of fish from farmers since its commissioning in February 2016.
