November 11, 2003

Inadequate Investment in High-Quality Equipment Impedes Growth of Africa's Dairy Industry

The growth of Africa's dairy sector has been slow because of little investment in high quality dairy equipment.

According to the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), the country's dairy industry has stagnated for long because farmers have not invested in equipment like milk chillers, hay balers and transport equipment.

The group's enterprise development adviser, Mr Mike Albu, said under-investment in some of the potentially productive and competitive sectors has lead to slow economic growth.

"A key problem is the inability of small and micro-enterprise to finance investment in relatively modest capital equipment," he said.

Albu was speaking during Kenya's first leasing congress held at a Nairobi hotel.

Britain's Department for International Development (DfiD) sponsored the congress.

He said Africa's formal and informal sectors would be greatly improved if more investment were made in small-scale productive capital.