Patel: Fix road access

By CLARISSA MOI
THE City Pharmacy Group spends approximately K10 million a year to get locally grown fresh produce to the company’s supermarkets.
City Pharmacy Ltd managing director Mahesh Patel said that road access and infrastructure needed to be fixed if the Government was serious about supporting the agriculture sector.
He told The National that as part of the group’s mission and social responsibility, they partnered with local farmers, mostly in the Highlands and Central to supply fresh produce for their Stop and Shop outlets. However, Patel said the cost of transporting fresh produce in and around the country was very high and affected the local farmers as well.
“It is extremely expensive and inconsistent,” he said.
“Our farmers have a terrible and costly time bringing the produce to market.
“Road access and transportation is atrocious and needs to be fixed if our nation is serious about supporting agriculture.
“We need to explore setting up a central collection agency or a cooperative style set up which has been done in other developing countries.
“This will not only allow our farmers and their families to spend more time in the farms, but also improve the quality of the produce as this deteriorates quickly when travelling on public motor vehicles in the heat. If we are really serious in agriculture and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in this country, then we need a serious and quality fix of our infrastructures as soon as possible.” Patel said they worked with hundreds of farmers from the Highlands, mostly Eastern Highlands and Western Highlands as well as farmers all over Central.
“We also want to engage with Oro and other regions around the country.”
He said the farmers supply fresh produce to the group every week by road, air and sea depending on its origin.
“It is our mission to support our local farmers because we believe this will be a sustainable industry for a long time to come and will also fire up our sluggish economy,” he said.
“Internally, we feel it is our social responsibility as a company operating across the nation for more than 32 years.
“Our end game would be to cut back import right to the bare minimum of only things we cannot grow here.”