Nyeri is seeking to improve coffee production from 35 million 240 million kilogrammes per year, Governor Mutahi Kahiga has said.
This will raise production from 3 kilogrammes per tree to 20 kilogrammes. The county has 12 million coffee bushes. It grows the Arabica variety.
The national government has pumped in Sh1 billion to buy subsidised fertiliser to improve production per tree.
Nyeri has been picked by the Jubilee administration as a pilot county in coffee reforms. “Nyeri was among the best coffee producers but the production has declined,” Kahiga said. He blamed the decline in production on wrong decisions made in the past.
He spoke on Monday when Italian coffee buyers from Illycaffè company visited his office.
The head of the delegation, Stefano Scanferia, said the purpose of their visit was to study the coffee supply chain in Kenya. “This is important because we combine the quality of coffee with sustainability and the traceability,” he said.
The Italians visited Othaya coffee mills and witnessed the processing and packaging of the produce. Iresha Baranage from Italy-Kenya Trade Association said only 8,000 bags of Kenyan coffee are exported to Italy.
Nancy Cheruiyot of the Commodity Fund said the national government is building a direct window to enable farmers to sell their produce directly.
