Gatundu coffee farmers troop back to farms as prices rise

Coffee farming in Gatundu North, Kiambu county, is steadily picking after farmers got a price rise for their cherries.

Most farmers in the region had abandoned coffee farming for other crops such as macadamia and bananas due to mismanagement of the sector as well as poor returns.

Coffee, which is the region’s cash crop alongside tea, had proved to be a less profitable venture due to high cost of farm inputs, lack of proper and competitive markets and infiltration of the sector by cartels.

Despite coffee being one of Kenya’s foreign income earners, most farmers have been languishing in poverty even after toiling  hard in their farms.

However, government’s bids to revive the sector and initiation of programmes to safeguard farmers from exploitation and safeguard the sector from collapsing, have started bearing fruits.

Coffee farmers at Igegania Multipurpose Co-operative Society in Gatundu North are now smiling all the way to the bank after receiving a bountiful pay for their produce. The society has 667 farmers.

Some 437 farmers from seven factories in the region received Sh3.5 million this season, according to the society’s chairman Paul Mundia. They received Sh67 per kilogram, a Sh7 rise from last season’s Sh60.

Farmers who spoke to journalists at the factory on Saturday said the significant pay rise is a shot in the arm as many were contemplating ditching coffee farming for other crops. They said the better pay now motivates them to continue growing coffee.

 Farmer Michael Kamau said he has never received such an amount of money for his coffee since he started growing it in 1979. The highest price his coffee has ever fetched was Sh20 per kg.

“We have suffered for decades. Despite the hard work we put in our farms, we get meagre pay from our produce. But we are happy now that our coffee is fetching good prices. We are ready to go back to our farms and increase our productivity. God has finally answered our prayers,” he said.

Kamau said better pay for their coffee will free most farmers in the region from the shackles of poverty.

Samuel Kariuki, who has 500 coffee bushes at his farm in Karuri village, said most farmers have started grafting their coffee to replace the old SL Variety with Ruiru 11 variety for improved productivity.

Kariuki said the SL variety has become unproductive and is prone to disease attacks, especially Coffee Berry Disease unlike Ruiru 11, which has high yields and withstands harsh weather conditions as well as diseases.

“It’s now evident that the government is determined to restore the lost glory in the coffee sector and we are optimistic that prices will keep increasing,” he said.

Chairman Paul Mundia said already 50 per cent of the society’s farmers have adopted Ruiru 11 variety and are confident that this season’s productivity will be high.

“We have been training our farmers on better farming practices like use of compost manure to increase productivity as well as to cut short the cost incurred in buying fertilizers,” Mundia said.

The farmers, however, called on the government to provide them with subsidised farm inputs, including fertiliser, to enable them improve their farming.

-Edited by SKanyara