Members of Lugari Farmers Cooperative Society have appealed to both the national and Kakamega County governments and other investors to help them put up a standard building to house the amaranth milling plant and enable it to resume operation.
Led by their chairman Mr. Lawrence Gini the farmers said that the plant was stopped from operating by officials from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for failing to meet required standards.
Mr. Gini said after testing the flour produced at the miller it was discovered to be contaminated dangerous substances thus unfit for human consumption.
He said they carried out investigation to establish the origin of problem and with the help of experts it was discovered that the building housing the plant was not constructed to the required standards dust, other substances from outside could penetrate into the machine and mix with the final product thus contaminating it.
The farmers are now appealing for the both governments’ intervention to help them put up a new building to enable them resume milling the highly nutritious cereals. “Even if there is a private investor whom we can agree terms and partner with to operationalize this machine we welcome him,” said farmers.
According to Gini the machine has capacity of milling up to 10 tonnes of amaranth in a day and if it resumes operation it will serve the whole of Western region including Nyanza and increase income earned by farmers.
However, the chairman thanked the County government of Kakamega for helping them put up offices at the facility.