• Factories continue to elect Class 8 leavers, though they have been instructed to hire only Form 4s. Good CEOs needed; women and youth should run societies.
• Reforms needed to improve quality and production.
Image: EUTYCAS MUCHIRI
Nepotism, cronyism and hiring semi-literates have been blamed for the poor performance and collapse of coffee cooperatives.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga said on Monday that these problems could be why most cooperatives perform poorly or collapse due to poor management.
He blamed farmers for electing illiterate and semi-literate management committee members, including some members who are very old.
The governor spoke in Nyeri town on Monday during Nyeri Coffee Revival Strategy forum organised by the county government, the Presidential Task force on coffee reforms and Kenya Coffee, at Green Hills Hotel in Nyeri.
“I am really disturbed when a certain factory does that while we have clearly given direction that nobody should be elected unless they have attained Form 4. But people continue to elect Class 8 leavers."
High standards for committee members and managers mean better results, he said.
I am really disturbed when a factory does that while we have clearly directed that nobody should be elected unless they have attained Form 4. But people continue to elect Class 8 leavers."Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga
"We must ensure that we move with time. I am not saying that we have degree holders but a time will come when we will have to consider critically who will be running our cooperatives.”
He called for the recruitment of good CEOs.
Kahiga said the Cooperative Department will work with cooperatives to ensure only people with the right qualifications are hired.
The governor said the county government must also invest more resources in the coffee subsector.
“For sometimes we have ignored dilapidated factories with very old machinery, while some are reeling under debt,” he said.
Some drying sheds were put up in the 1950s and are in bad condition.
The problems were exposed by a recent audit of coffee cooperatives by both the national and county governments.
Today it is a shame that one coffee bush which used to produce 20 kilos in 1990s and 80s is now producing only two or one.Nyeri Governor Muthai Kahiga
To cut production cost, Kahiga said factories should use solar energy and sink their own boreholes.
"The bottom line is that if we reduce our management costs, then the farmer will get more from the harvest,” he said.
Stakeholders were exploring how to improve production and marketing and how to reform the sector.
Kahiga emphasised the need for stakeholders to improve quantity and quality before embarking on marketing.
“Today it is a shame that one coffee bush which used to produce 20 kilos in 1990s and 80s is now producing only two or one,” he said.
“This is achievable if farmers can agree to improve on coffee farming methods.”
“Our agriculture department has been able o acquire soil-profiling equipment, to help us know which interventions are needed to improve soils,” he said.
Professor Joseph Kieyah, chairman of the national task force, said about 60 per cent of Kenyan coffee comes from Nyeri's small-scale farmers.
Nyeri was picked by the national government to be a pilot county in coffee reforms.
(Edited by V. Graham)