Proparco is supporting an agricultural company in Kenya

Kenya Nut Company (“Kenya Nut”, “KNC”) is a Kenyan family-run company set up in 1974 and a subsidiary of the International Controls Limited (ICL) Group. It mainly produces macadamia nuts and wants to strengthen this activity and develop new side activities for cashew nut production, cattle breeding and wine production.

Proparco’s long-term financing will mainly finance the company’s 2019-2021 development plan. To help Kenya Nut cope with the health crisis, part of Proparco’s financing will also be earmarked for short-term cashflow needs to give Kenya Nut flexibility in this particular period.

Proparco will also help meet Kenya Nut’s request to improve corporate governance and environmental performance, which are key areas of development for this company experiencing strong growth. This project is thereby supporting a developing agriculture sector that creates jobs and is a source of diversification for Kenya’s export revenues, which are still too dependent on coffee and tea. The project is also contributing to improving living conditions for the most vulnerable farmers (<2 ha) and to their professionalization. In addition, it is strengthening Kenya’s industrial fabric and, finally, has a climate change adaptation dimension by generating water savings in an area sensitive to water stress.

The expected impacts of this financing are as follows:

• The project should support over 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs at KNC over the next five years, including 90 jobs created and 585 jobs held by women. In addition, the project should support some 8,200 indirect jobs, mainly for macadamia nut producers.
• The project should also contribute to strengthening KNC’s adaptation to climate change, as USD 4m will be invested in a drip irrigation system. This will allow KNC to save water and will reduce its vulnerability to water stress, as droughts are increasingly frequent in the Thika region due to climate change.