President William Ruto has said Kenya will stop importing shoes within the next two to three years as the country expands local leather manufacturing.
Ruto said the government was working to increase the use of Kenyan leather by local manufacturers and reduce reliance on imported leather products.
"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 improve the quality of their products as the country seeks to expand domestic production.
"I'm just waiting for the manufacturers to improve on their quality," he said.
Ruto said the government had already seen progress, with eight companies using Kenyan leather to manufacture products locally.
He said the growth in local manufacturing was part of efforts to ensure Kenya gets more value from its raw materials instead of exporting them with limited processing.
The President spoke during the Agriculture and Food Security town hall at Jamhuri Park in Nairobi on Thursday, where he outlined government plans for agriculture, manufacturing and value addition.
Ruto said the government had also made changes to support value addition in other agricultural sectors, including tea, where it has sought to encourage more processing within Kenya.
He said Kenya had for a long time exported tea without sufficient processing and was now seeking to reverse that trend by attracting companies to process tea locally.
On leather, Ruto said the government wanted to expand the sector so that Kenyan raw materials could support more manufacturing and jobs at home.
He also cited footwear used by uniformed officers as an area where the country could reduce reliance on imported products.
"For all our uniformed officers, all the boots that we are importing from China, and I don't know where, we want to make them here," Ruto said.
Ruto said increasing local production would create more opportunities for Kenyan manufacturers and farmers while retaining more value within the country.
His remarks came as he spoke about the government's broader plans to increase value addition in agriculture and link farmers to manufacturing industries.
He said agriculture was central to Kenya's industrialisation because it supplies raw materials for processing and manufacturing.
