I recently accepted an invitation to visit Del Monte Kenya’s pineapple canning plant in Thika, in order to meet the managing director, South African national Wayne Cook, who has recently taken the helm of what is the largest commercial agricultural enterprise in central Kenya.
I have a somewhat utopian view of factories and manufacturing plants in general. I enjoy watching the machines and mortars twist and turn, and I enjoy watching factory workers grind around conveyor belts, drive forklifts, and, in the case of the Thika pineapple processing plant, make and package slices and juices.
We don’t have many factory factories in Kenya anymore. Over the years, manufacturing plants have been replaced by warehouses to store materials imported from the UAE, Turkey and China.
Taking a tour of Del Monte Kenya’s processing plant is also an opportunity to familiarize yourself with and appreciate how important the company’s commercial agricultural operations are to the broader economy and the health of Thika, and indeed to the entire economy of the country. region.
It must be remembered that Thika City was initially designed by the Government of Kenya just after independence to be the satellite industrial city of Nairobi. In the 1960s and 1970s, the city had a disproportionate share of industrial enterprises compared to other cities in Kenya.
But in the past four or five decades, Thika, and the central Kenya region, have witnessed deindustrialization that has left behind an economically depressed landscape characterized by factory closures, job losses, and socially disturbed communities.
Today, Del Monte Kenya’s massive commercial farming operations and the Thika Pineapple Canning Corporation stand out as among the only vestiges of the era when the city was a leader in terms of industrial employment and economic dynamism in central Kenya.
As you tour the expansive pineapple farm and cannery and interact with the farmers, truckers and packers who work in the majestic cannery, the sheer level of activity, and the grind of the plant’s workers, leads you to the inescapable conclusion that this large commercial agricultural operation is indeed a systemically important player. In the economy of central Kenya, supporting the livelihoods of thousands of families and establishing the commercial viability of a long supply chain ranging from traders and transporters to hoteliers.
The contrast between the economic and commercial activities within Del Monte Kenya Corporation and activity in the rest of Thika district and the economy of central Kenya could not be more stark.
Instead of factories and manufacturing plants, the main economic activity in Thika today is the urbanization of plots of land, concrete jungles dominated by multi-storey rental houses, which suffer from a range of problems, including traffic congestion, flooding and poorly constructed and flood-prone rental housing. It collapses.
Today, Del Monte Kenya finds itself competing for space and attention with property developers. However, as we all know, manufacturing is better at creating more decent and permanent jobs. As a journalist, I have always subscribed to the view that companies should contribute to society. They must view their role in society as going beyond simply improving shareholder value by providing profits and dividends to shareholders.
However, I have sometimes found myself confused by the lengths to which commercial agricultural companies, like Del Monte Kenya, go when it comes to spending on supporting local communities.
I ask myself whether or not the huge expenditures these large commercial agricultural operations make on non-core activities and so-called sustainability programs are putting pressure on profitability, and whether or not these old models practiced mainly by agricultural companies, still make economic sense. And business sense.
Take the case of Del Monte Kenya, for example. Del Monte High School, populated by children from surrounding communities, is provided with free piped water from company dams, firewood for cooking, and lunch for the students.
The company furnishes staff offices and stairs, maintains roads leading to the school and playgrounds, pays electricity bills, accommodates teaching and non-teaching staff, and provides emergency medical services to students.
The investment in community schools includes three more primary schools and eight nursery schools providing early childhood education. In 2010, it opened its own co-ed Del Monte High School, located on one of the company’s farms.
I asked; Will the model of spending heavily on community programmes, and on legacy CSR activities, remain sustainable in the future for operations like Del Monte Kenya?
According to Del Monte’s new president, Mr. Cook, the company intends to move more decisively toward focusing more on culture, employee loyalty and human rights.
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