President William Ruto has raised concern over the illegal movement of Kenyan hides to West Africa, saying the country is losing valuable livestock products through unofficial routes while other countries use them for food.
Ruto said Kenya must strengthen the way hides and skins are handled and reduce the amount of unprocessed products leaving the country if the leather industry is to generate greater value locally.
“Matatizo tuko nayo ni kwanza hii ngozi nyingi inapitishwa njia ya kichochoro inaenda huko West Africa kwa sababu kuna watu wanakula ngozi huko,” Ruto said on Thursday at the Agriculture & Food Security Summit, engaging with Kenyans during the Presidential Town Hall at Jamhuri Park, Nairobi.
Translated, he said: “The problem we have is, first, a lot of these hides are being smuggled through unofficial routes to West Africa because there are people there who eat hides.”
The President said the government needed to put tighter controls on the movement and sale of hides and skins while encouraging more investment in their collection, handling and processing.
“We need to invest more in the management of hides and skin and we need to close on the exports of unprocessed products and also to limit the numbers of skins and hides that are being sold in West Africa for people to go and eat,” he said.
Ruto identified the movement of hides through unofficial routes as one of the challenges affecting Kenya's leather industry, at a time when the government is seeking to increase the value obtained from livestock products.
He said more attention needed to be given to the management of hides and skins so that Kenya can make better use of the raw materials generated by its livestock sector.
The President has been calling for more agricultural products to undergo processing within Kenya rather than leaving the country in raw or partly processed form.
He said greater local processing would support manufacturing, create employment and give farmers better returns by linking agricultural production more closely with industries.
Ruto made the remarks during the Agriculture and Food Security Presidential Town Hall at Jamhuri Park in Nairobi on Thursday, where he engaged farmers and other stakeholders on issues affecting the agricultural sector.
The discussions covered food security, agricultural production, value addition and the challenges facing farmers and related industries.
The President also linked the leather sector to his wider plan to expand local manufacturing, saying Kenya should increasingly use its own raw materials to produce finished goods.
He said the government was working to increase the amount of Kenyan leather used by local manufacturers and reduce the country's dependence on imported leather products.
Ruto said Kenya should be able to stop importing shoes within the next two to three years as local leather manufacturing grows.
"I want to assure you that in a very short time — I don't want to give you a time frame — but in the next two to three years, we will not be importing shoes from anywhere. We will be making shoes and all these leather products," Ruto said.
He said the government was waiting for local manufacturers to raise the quality of their products as Kenya prepares to expand domestic production.
The push to strengthen the leather industry comes as the government seeks to keep more value from livestock products within the country and build industries around locally available raw materials.
Ruto's remarks on hides and skins point to the challenges Kenya faces in achieving that goal, particularly where raw materials are moved out of the country through unofficial channels or sold without undergoing further processing.
He said improving the management of hides and skins, limiting the export of unprocessed products and expanding local manufacturing would help Kenya make greater use of its livestock resources.
The government is also seeking to connect agriculture more closely with manufacturing so that products from farmers can supply local industries and support a wider chain of economic activity.
For the leather sector, the President said the focus should be on ensuring that Kenyan hides and skins contribute to local production rather than being lost through unregulated trade.