Deputy President Kithure Kindiki addressed the Agricultural and Food Security Transformation Summit at Jamhuri Park ASK Showground in Nairobi, emphasizing that agriculture and industrialisation must be pursued together.

The government has completed 17 County Aggregation and Industrial Parks that will process commodities such as avocado, macadamia and milk close to their source, with facilities already being fitted out for operation.

These hubs aim to enable farmers and agribusinesses to convert raw produce into higher‑value goods—freezing avocados for export, shelling macadamia nuts on‑site, and refining milk into dairy products—rather than shipping raw commodities abroad.

Kindiki highlighted recent gains: tea earnings rose from KSh138 bn to KSh181 bn, meat export revenues increased from KSh8.9 bn to KSh12.9 bn, and dairy production grew from 4.6 bn to 5.2 bn litres with dairy product value climbing from KSh4.9 bn to KSh8.9 bn.

Kenya is now described as Africa’s leading exporter of processed milk, illustrating how value‑addition can lift sector earnings.

Kindiki warned that these achievements are only a starting point and called for further investment in processing infrastructure, technology, research, finance and market linkages, involving farmers, cooperatives, processors, traders and financial institutions as partners.

He also outlined a shift in the government’s role, moving from being the primary driver of agricultural activity to an enabler that creates conditions for private investment, enterprise and innovation to thrive.

Success, according to Kindiki, will be measured by the number of locally processed products, new enterprises, jobs created and additional income generated from commodities that previously left Kenya in raw form.