Kenya committed to fully revive manufacturing sector: Top official

“Rivatex had previously collapsed and it has undergone a significant makeover. I want to applaud the factory’s management for bringing it back to life, it has now created employment to more than 1,000 people. I am confident that the new Rivatex will boost this administration’s efforts to create more jobs for the youth in the future,“ said Mukhwana.

“The government has invested up to Ksh 7 billion in the factory over the past five years and has unveiled plans to expand the textile manufacturing industry with the goal of increasing revenue ten times than of the previous year which was Ksh 50 billion, while increasing employment from 50,000 to 500,000 over the next five years,” he said.

Investments in the textile sector are in line with the government’s ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’ agenda, he said.

The country is yet to fully exploit the export benefits offered by the US African Growth Opportunity Act, he was quoted as saying by Kenyan media reports.

The government is encouraging farmers to grow cotton on a large scale as the market is readily available, noted Mukhwana.

“When the factories stopped running farmers stop planting, and as a government we have allocated 50 million for cotton purchases, and this year we have set aside 200 million for the same therefore we will have cotton buying centers for farmers to sell because up to 80 per cent of our cotton supply is imported,” the official said.

Counties that Rivatex has partnered with include Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Baringo and Kitui.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)