Inside Sagana Agro Industrial SEZ
The Sagana Agro-Industrial Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Located Central Kenya, this is a public SEZ was meant to be an agricultural processing and export centre.
Background:
Sagana Agro-Industrial site sits on roughly 242 acres of land in Sagana, Kirinyaga County. The zone comprises of County Aggregation and Industrial Park (CAIP), assorted industries, a four-star hotel, and a 9-hole golf course and a cluster dedicated as a Export Processing Zone (EPZ). Some custom control zone transitions are also currently in the pipeline.
Operations:
The County Government of Kirinyaga is the primary developer/operator of the CAIP & park infrastructure (with active national government participation and funding for the EPZ/SEZ components).
The CAIP is explicitly designed to aggregate farm produce from surrounding counties, grade/sort it, and provide cold-storage before feeding processors. This aggregation → processing → export loop is the operational heartbeat.
The county is keen to receive investors willing to set up industries dealing in the processing and manufacturing of goods for export, especially agricultural, leather and textiles. About 20 investors are ready to setup but first keen for consolidation of all the incentives.
Supportive industries such as banking, logistics, customs, ICT, security, farm inputs, hospitality, security, fire and disaster management and recreational facilities are also expected to set up at the facility.
The park enjoys all incentives as a SEZ and being configured for plug-and-play units plus long-lease land for custom builds. Daily processing lines (dairy, leather, textile inputs e.t.c) will run inside the industrial sheds / investor factories; supportive services (packaging, inputs, logistics, quality labs) are collocated. A customs-controlled status is being fully formalized, operations will include on-site customs clearance, preferential handling for exports, and a “one-stop” investor facilitation desk.
Development Status:
Commercial facilities such as warehouses (6 no.) and cold storage (2no.) are almost complete. There is a guaranteed off-take for fruits/vegetables, dairy inputs, and raw materials for leather/textiles.
Internal infrastructure development is till in progress. With a total investment of about ksh 500 million (37% from national Govt. and 27% from the county Govt.) However some key issues still need to be addressed which include:
The main access road to the industrial park is yet to be tarmacked and a reliable access point for movement in and out of the SEZ.
A power station is also needed to account for consistent facilitation of factory activities.
Conclusion:
This location being in the highlands uniquely supports its role as a climate-smart agro-industrial SEZ, backed consistently by the national government. Conceived to aggregate rural production and add value through cold-chain, warehousing, processing, and export facilitation, the project aims to transform farm output into export-ready goods while creating over 10,000 direct jobs.
To fully realize this potential, accelerated completion of core infrastructure is essential, positioning Sagana as the flagship agro-based hub of Central Kenya.
Rural counties starting with Kirinyaga are the next frontier for investment to boost local production and reduce food dependence and those who recognize the vision now will benefit first.
Hon. Lee Kinyanjui, Minister for Trade
For more information, reach out to us via info@rickfes.co.ke
At Rickfes Construction Ltd, we are keen to receive and facilitate investors; local or international; seeking to establish their developments into this SEZ. Our role is to be your development partner, liaison and local representative on the ground while in setting up in this SEZ.
