• Farmers who are not members of any co-operative society or those who wish to leave their co-operative societies will be free to sell to KPCU.
• They will access Sh3 billion advance fund either through New KPCU or their cooperative societies.
Image: ALICE WAITHERA
Coffee farmers’ cooperative societies will be forced to restructure their operations or risk losing their members to the New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union.
The Inter-Agency Task Force on Coffee Cherry Advance Fund Regulations chairperson Geoffrey Malombe has said farmers will now be free to sell their coffee directly to the New KPCU after it is fully reformed.
Malombe said New KPCU will now be under the Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary and will be fully functional in two years.
He said farmers will access the Coffee Cherry Advance Fund through their cooperative societies or the union after the government rolled out Sh3 billion for the fund.
“The government has repossessed it from the banks and after it stands, the new KPCU will set the bar very high and will be buying coffee at up to Sh 100 per kilogramme,” he said, noting that it will be restructured just as the New KCC.
He said the New KPCU will decentralise its services to the grassroots to make it accessible to farmers.
Many coffee farmers have been complaining of poor management that has led to coffee theft and poor payments.
Farmers from some cooperative societies have not been paid for years.
Administrators have, however, blamed the thefts on factories’ managers who are accused of masterminding them, leaving farmers reeling in debts.
Representing the county commissioner, Murang’a East deputy county commissioner Okaka Etyang said coffee worth millions has been stolen from three factories recently.
“We are saying those are the actions of managers who have been employed to guard farmers’ coffee. We have agreed that they inform us when their coffee is ready for transport so we can give them security,” he said.
Etyang said managers of Geitwa, Kahuro and Kigumo factories have been taken to court and will be removed from their positions.
Malombe, who was heading a public participation forum in Murang’a town on Tuesday, said the advance fund will be ready in a month like President Uhuru Kenyatta promised in his address last week.
He explained that farmers will repay the loans at an interest of three per cent which will help make it self-sustaining and cover administrative costs.
Farmers currently wait for up to six months to get their payments, Malombe said, and that the fund will seal the gap left by the delayed payments.
“After delivering their coffee to their factories, farmers will be able to apply for the fund as they await their payment."
Application forms will be available online and the cooperative societies’ role will only be to confirm that the farmer has delivered coffee.
Malombe pointed out that they will have covered all 32 coffee-farming counties in a week and a report prepared by next Tuesday.
Farmers’ views will be incorporated in the draft regulations and forwarded to Cabinet for approval before they are tabled in the National Assembly.
Afterwards, an intensive sensitisation programme will be rolled out to educate farmers on the fund and how to access it.
“We will organise forums to train district co-operatives and agriculture officers on the regulations so that they can then sensitise farmers about them."
Edited by R.Wamochie