Woman’s mill spurs maize farming in Vihiga
Nancy Ingado of Glorious Flour Mills Limited with some of her employees at the factory in Ematsuli village in Emuhaya, Vihiga County.
What you need to know:
- Little did Nancy Ingado know the move to start up Glorious Flour Mills Limited slightly over a year ago in Emuhaya, Vihiga County, would turn the area into a food producing area with a bias in maize farming.
- She has employed 45 other women, 40 among them on permanent terms and supervises them.
For 29-year-old Nancy Ingado, starting up a flour processor was meant to be an income generating venture.
Little did she know the move to start up Glorious Flour Mills Limited slightly over a year ago at the rural Ematsuli village in Emuhaya, Vihiga County, would turn the area into a food producing area with a bias in maize farming.
Before this, locals here were not into maize farming, despite ugali being their staple food.
Today, she has employed 45 other women, 40 among them on permanent terms and supervises them.
At the mills, the women are busy, processing maize into sifted flour, packaged as Glory King, and which has become common among the locals because it is affordable going at Sh100 per two-kilo packet. It is the cheapest flour in the area.
Within the farms in the neighbourhood, women are busy growing maize, assured of a ready market, thanks to Glorious Flour Mills Limited.
What was meant to be an income earner for Ms Ingado has turned the area into a food secure area as women here are intercropping maize with beans and various kinds of vegetables.
They sell their maize to the mills, thus making money. It is a food production venture for the people living here, even as they also earn from the sale of maize.
Kebs approval
Ms Ingado says she owns a 10-acre land in Kitale where she grows maize and manages 400 bags of maize, once a year.
But this leaves the processor with a deficit of 93,200 bags she has to process in a year, turning to the locals who sell her the raw material.
"With this establishment, women here are busy on their farms. They are now cultivating maize because there is a ready market for their produce," Ms Ingado says.
And adds: "At this mill, we have employed 40 women on permanent terms and five others as casuals. At least this is making them earn income and fend for their families."
The processor first takes the maize to the standards body, Kebs, where they are tested before being processed.
"We started in January last year but entered the market five months later after getting necessary approvals from Kebs," she says.
She goes on: "We make ugali flour and chicken feed."
The machines that run day and night were procured from China at a cost of Sh5 million, including the setting up.
At least 600 bales of flour, each going for Sh1,050 are sold daily earning Sh630,000 on each day. This translates into Sh18.9 million in a good month.
“Our market cuts across the country,” she concludes.
