Team set up to address leather sector woes

    The Government has established a committee to look into the problems affecting the leather sector.



Industrialisation Ministry Permanent Secretary John Lonyangapuo said this is part of the reforms in the leather sub-sector to revamp the once robust industry.



The taskforce formed last week is expected to present its report to the Ministry within a month.



It will comprise Ministry officials and leather industry stakeholders, including the informal and small-scale players.



\"Once the report is out, we will be in a position to tell what sections of the leather value chain are in need of reforms,\" he said.



He added that once changes have been made, the manufacturing sector would increase its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, from the current 10 per cent to 15 per cent. The leather production is clustered under manufacturing sector.



Of the 10 per cent, the leather industry contributes 1.7 per cent.



The PS, however, said the sub sector can perform better, given the demand for leather and its products in the regional and international markets.



\"At 1.7 per cent, leather is the poorest performing sub-sector in manufacturing especially considering that the demand for these products both locally and internationally is yet to be met,\" he said.



Lonyangapuo spoke on Wednesday at the opening of a two-day workshop on eco-labelling.



The workshop, convened by the Kenya Cleaner Production Centre, focused on footwear production.



He said that the adoption of environmentally-friendly production techniques by local leather producers would enhance the sector??s performance on the international markets.



Eco-labelling is a method of environmental performance certification and identifies products whose production avoids damaging effects to the environment.