{
  "id": 3075950,
  "title": "From banana waste to billions? Kenya’s Ksh100B bioeconomy gamble could transform farmers’ fortunes",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/24/from-banana-waste-to-billions-kenyas-ksh100b-bioeconomy-gamble-could",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-24T17:42:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "People Daily Kenya",
    "slug": "people-daily-kenya",
    "url": "https://peopledaily.digital/business/from-banana-waste-to-billions-kenyas-ksh100b-bioeconomy-gamble-could-transform-farmers-fortunes"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Kenya's ambitious plan to attract Ksh100 billion in bioeconomy investment over the next decade aims to enhance the economic value of indigenous biological resources, rather than merely discovering new ones. Existing agricultural products such as banana leaves, fibre, and livestock resources hold untapped potential, but their value is often lost due to farmers and producers operating at the lowest end of the value chain. The strategy seeks to address this by integrating research, technology, and private capital closer to production, moving away from extracting biological resources to building technologies and businesses around them.\n\nAchieving this objective will depend on transforming research from laboratory settings into commercially viable products. A key opportunity lies in the agricultural sector, where waste can be repurposed as valuable resources. For example, banana fibre and leaves could be processed into products like sanitary materials, generating extra income for farmers. According to Niall O’Connor, director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, this value addition could significantly improve farmers' incomes by utilizing their resources instead of merely extracting raw materials.\n\nHowever, smallholder farmers and emerging bio-based enterprises often face challenges securing credit due to banks perceiving them as high-risk investments. To overcome this, financial institutions must adjust their risk assessment methods and find ways to mitigate risks associated with small-scale producers. The government's proposed ecosystem, which brings together universities, research institutions, industry, and investors, is crucial in facilitating this transition. This includes expanding the EU-supported Bio Kenya project, establishing a centre of excellence, and eventually creating a dedicated bioeconomy institute and university.\n\nNevertheless, infrastructure alone is insufficient for success. Kenya will require stronger commercialization systems, robust intellectual property protection, reliable markets, and businesses capable of transitioning innovations beyond pilot projects. Otherwise, the Ksh100 billion target could remain a disconnected aspiration from actual producer involvement. Incorporating artificial intelligence could further bolster the sector's potential by aiding farmers in detecting pests and diseases, optimizing fertiliser and water usage, and minimizing post-harvest losses. Ultimately, the success of this strategy will be evident through improved farm incomes, the emergence of new industries, and the production of locally-made products. If Kenya successfully transforms biological waste into commercial inputs, research into viable businesses, and farmers into active partners rather than mere suppliers of cheap raw materials, the bioeconomy could become an alternative pathway to industrialization, leveraging the country's existing resources.",
  "summary": "Kenya’s plan to attract Ksh100 billion in bioeconomy investment over the next decade is less about discovering new biological resources than solving an old economic problem: why does the country continue to earn little from what it already produces? From banana leaves and agricultural waste to livestock resources, indigenous knowledge and biodiversity, Kenya has a […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}