How once-profitable pyrethrum sector lost farmers and markets

Delayed payments, costly inputs and shrinking markets have driven pyrethrum growers towards potatoes, maize and other more reliable alternatives...

✨ Key Highlights

Kenya's once-thriving pyrethrum sector, a significant foreign exchange earner, has fallen into decline due to delayed payments, market losses, and mismanagement, forcing many farmers to abandon the crop.

Production has sharply declined since 2001, impacting thousands of farmers who previously relied on the crop.
Key entities involved include the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya (PPCK) and former regulatory body, the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya (PBK).
Farmers recall higher returns in the 1980s, with prices up to Sh230 per kilogram, a stark contrast to current apathy fueled by uncertainty and low yields.