Beer maker Kenya Breweries Limited is targeting farmers in Kakamega County as it seeks to increase local sorghum supply for its Sh15 billion Kisumu brewery.
KBL has picked Lugari constituency to pilot the project.
The farmers will help meet demand for the new plant set to be opened in the next couple of months. The Kisumu plant will kick off activity with a two-year production run of Senator Keg beer, a low-priced lager made from sorghum. “We are already recruiting farmers to participate in the pilot programme in Lugari constituency,” KBL told the Business Daily yesterday.
This will raise the number of sorghum farmers from the current 15,000 contracted in Homa Bay, Migori, Siaya and Kisumu. KBL has contracted farmers from lower Eastern, Nyanza and Western regions to meet its annual demand of 60,000 metric tonnes.
Senator Keg has been one of the fastest growing brands for KBL in recent years due to high demand from price-sensitive consumers, some of who are switching from illegal drinks to more formal ones.
The brewer collects the grain from farms but has also contracted aggregators who bring together hundreds of farmers from the same region to deliver the harvest in bulk at the Nairobi and Kisumu plants.
KBL pays between Sh32 and Sh37 per kilo of sorghum.
KBL paid its 60,000 contracted farmers Sh1.5 billion in September.
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