Inside the $50 million daisy: Is Kenya's pyrethrum revival real?

KYLE Schutter's Linkedin post about Kentegra Biotechnology’s "$50 million success story" in pyrethrum processing caught my attention last week.

- 

Schutter, who runs Kenyan investment platform Kuzana, was celebrating what he called a "boring" company that deserved to be made "sexy again" after visiting their Naivasha facility.

But beneath the enthusiasm lies a story rich with historical baggage worth unpacking.

Dalmatian daisies

Kentegra, a US company operating in Kenya, processes Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium - a modest daisy originally from Eastern Europe and Asia. The species arrived in Kenya via Japan in the early 1920s, introduced by European settlers who recognised the highland's potential for pyrethrum cultivation.

Kenya's Central Highlands, with their volcanic soils and cool temperatures, proved ideal for producing flowers rich in natural pyrethrins - the active compounds that make effective organic insecticides.

Worth clarifying the terminology: pyrethrum is the crude flower extract, while pyrethrins are the six distinct insecticidal compounds within it. The pyrethrum provides the raw material; the pyrethrins do the actual work of disrupting insect nervous systems.

By the 1980s, Kenya dominated global pyrethrum production, supplying over 70% of the world's natural insecticide market. Some 300 000 farmers cultivated this crop across the highland regions, making pyrethrum a cornerstone of rural livelihoods.

Then came the collapse. As one LinkedIn commenter noted: "A crop once tightly controlled through a public body known as the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya, which not only failed farmers, but injected a layer of expensive bureaucracy in how the crop was marketed and utilised."

Another recalled how "Kenya had the largest pyrethrum factory in Nakuru, and farmers were doing very well, because of very good returns. However, it was killed by government officials through billing, and a lack of payment to farmers, or extended payment delays of over 6 to 12 months."