•The farmers said the pandemic hit during the peak of coffee marketing season.
•The pandemic caused prices to slump as it locked out main buying countries.
Image: Alice Waithera
Murang’a coffee farmers want the national government to fast-track the roll out of the coffee cherry fund to cushion farmers from the effects of Covid-19.
Kangiri Coffee Co-operative Society chairman James Kibugu Kangiri said farmers have suffered immensely due to the pandemic.
Kibugu told The Star that the pandemic broke out during the coffee marketing peak season and that local coffee was able to get to buying countries in time.
Kibugu said the main buyers of Kenyan coffee including the United States, United Kingdom and Germany were among the first countries to be hard hit by the pandemic.
This, he said, caused coffee prices to slump, an effect he said will trickle down to the farmer.
Farmers in the county have been decrying the consistently poor prices of coffee that they say is unable to cover their cost of production.
The situation is further worsened by rampant coffee theft that leaves farmers reeling in losses.
The chairman said the situation is set to further worsen due to the coronavirus outbreak.
He challenged the government to consider fast-tracking the coffee cherry revolving fund to help farmers sustain their coffee farms.
The government established the Sh3 billion kitty last year to revitalise the sector and help farmers deliver their coffee to factories.
The fund was to be rolled out early this year but the process was disrupted by the pandemic.
“Coffee Co-operative Societies had even been called for meetings in preparation for the fund but then the virus hit the country and the process was stopped,” Kibugi said.
After the pandemic, he noted, the already struggling sector will require concerted efforts by the government to get it on its feet.
He said prices of coffee are normally affected by the overproduction of the commodity by major producing countries such as Brazil.
He said high costs of farm inputs discourage farmers from tending to their coffee farms as they should, which results to reduced quality and further aggravates the prices.
“Farm inputs are especially very expensive right now due to the lockdown and the fact that they have to be airlifted from their countries of origin,” he said.
He urged the government to support farmers by subsidising inputs to make them affordable.
Last month, the government launched a Sh1.5 billion coffee revitalisation initiative funded by the World Bank.
The two year programme will focus on increasing production, improving the efficiency of coffee co-operative societies and development of alternative coffee markets.
The programme will be piloted in eight counties including Murang’a, Nyeri, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Meru which produce about 70 per cent of the country’s production.
Such programmes, Kibugi noted, could go a long way towards empowering suffering farmers.