Rebuild local supply chains to tap Kisumu Port benefits

Lately, President Uhuru Kenyatta has been making several impromptu visits to the lakeside city of Kisumu to inspect the refurbishment of the port and other projects within the Winam Gulf.

Sea or lake ports are important maritime institutions that are more than just berths and docks for loading and unloading. The continued integration of the world economies reveals the economic impact of ports on both local, regional and international supply chains.

In the early years of Kenya’s independence, Kisumu was the commercial hub of the defunct East African Community (EAC) and a regional logistic powerhouse. Recently, Kisumu has witnessed a surge in infrastructure development, including road expansions and flyovers, real estate, water and sanitation, and sports stadia.

Ports are part of the international supply chain network that interconnects countries and enables the movement of people, materials, goods and services, impacting to the economic growth and development of these regions. Sea ports, for instance, provide cheap and fast transport of goods produced and exchanged, and facilitate the transfer of these goods from sea to land.

AGRICULTURAL POTENTIAL

The Lake region has a significant agricultural potential attributed to large amounts of fertile, arable land as well as healthy rainfall levels and patterns. But these resources are not fully exploited.

According to a Deloitte report, impediments to the optimum agricultural productivity in the region include small farm holding characterized by subsistence farming, and lack of the use of irrigation and modern farming methods.

The main cash crops of the region are sugarcane, rice, sorghum, tobacco, pyrethrum, coffee, tea and cotton whereas dominant food crops are maize, banana, potatoes, tomatoes and beans. The residents of the Lake region must take the advantage of the ports to trade with neighbouring countries like Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan and Rwanda.

Maritime supply chain is a catalyst of global trade interconnectedness, and it has been so for thousands of years. This is why it is important for the government to maintain a conducive maritime trade environment with neighbouring countries, especially those with whom we are sharing the lake resources.

In order for the port to break even, the Lake Victoria supply chain must also include increased export-import trade of commodities like crude oil and other petroleum products, sugar, tea, coffee, tomatoes, chilies and other food products besides general-purpose cargo. Currently the port handles about 17,735 tonnes of cargo annually compared to the an average of 8.6 million tonnes of cargo handled by the port of Mombasa.

The region boasts attractive tourist destinations such as Ndere National Park, Ruma National Park, Rusinga Island, Migingo Island, Mfangano Island, the over-hanging huge granite rocks at Riat Hills, Maseno and Seme areas, the Impala Wildlife Sanctuary, the legendary Luanda Magere and Kit-Mikayi sites, the Nyabondo plateau with its panoramic view of Nyando plains and the Kisumu Museum.

Maritime economists argue that economic wealth of different regions is the product of centuries of economic evolution in which merchant shipping, ports have played a major part.

Ports such as those of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Singapore, and Hong Kong have been able to sustain a relatively high economic growth rate of the regions in which they are situated.

According to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the success of Singapore, for instance, is attributed to the Port of Singapore which has successfully been able to attract foreign investments in manufacturing and assembly and has developed to be an international transport logistics centre.

Today, most prosperous countries such as Greece, Italy (Rome), USA, Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, North America, Japan and Korea have long coast line that connects them with the rest of the world.

ICT INFRASTRUCTURE

The Kenyan government must maximise the use of the port of Kisumu and other ports within the gulf to reap its full potential. This can be achieved by improvement in transport and information and communication technology infrastructure and advancement in port handling equipment to cope with these new developments.

The residents of this region must embark on agribusiness to generate goods to be transported to Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

The county governments in this region must re-engineer their agricultural production and industries to tap opportunities in the wider Eastern African region.

Panya is a procurement & supply chain management consultant, lecturer and researcher at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology