by Eliud Miring’uh
Pyrethrum was introduced in Kenya in the 1920s by colonial farmers who influenced enactment of the Pyrethrum Act. The Act provided rules for production, processing, and marketing of pyrethrum until 1980, when Parliament enacted the State Corporation Act Cap 446 to govern all State corporations, including the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya.
The new Act gave powers to the President to name directors and top managers of State corporations, including those in agriculture, without consultations with farmers. Pyrethrum had become the most important crop after coffee and tea and by 1963, Kenya was the word’s largest producer, accounting for 70 per cent of production.
However, with the enactment of the State Corporations Act, the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya saw political appointees who had no knowledge of the crop between 1980s and 1990s. These directors and managers ran it down. Cases of theft of pyrethrum stocks were rampant in the 1980s, while managers engaged in corruption through tendering systems and purchasing of equipment.
Between 1980 and 1990 production of pyrethrum was adversely affected, with farmers uprooting the crop in favour of other cash and food crops after PBK reneged on payments. And since farmers abandoned the crop, the board has closed down key regional offices.
Other challenges include inability by the Government to introduce modern pyrethrum processing plants.The industry has also not been liberalised.
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