- The funds will go towards rehabilitation of coffee factories and building the capacity of farmers to produce high quality coffee and boost production.
- The funds will be sourced from county's allocation from National government, local revenue and partners such as National Agricultural and Inclusive Growth project.
Image: Alice Waithera
Murang’a County government plans to use Sh800,000,000 to revitalise the coffee sector in the next five years.
The funds will go towards rehabilitation of coffee factories and building the capacity of farmers to produce high quality coffee and boost production.
The funds will be sourced from county’s allocation from the National government, local revenue and partners such as National Agricultural and Inclusive Growth project.
The coffee development support programme is one of the nine flagship programmes of Governor Irungu Kang’ata.
In December last year, the County government issued Sh80 million to seven coffee co-operative societies to help coffee factories digitise their facilities.
The funds were to enable factories to buy digital weighing scales that send notifications to farmers’ mobile phone once their coffee is weighed.
The benefiting co-operative societies included Ruchu, Kaganda, Kangiri, Thanga-ini, Kanguno, Kamacharia and Karurumo.
The funds are also aimed at helping some of the factories with post-colonial equipment to procure new eco-pulping machines that are more efficient and consume minimal power while enabling farmers to procure lime to treat soil in their farms.
According to the County Integrated Development Plan passed by the County Assembly in March this year, over 60per cent of small-scale farmers engage in tea and coffee farming especially in the upper parts of Murang’a.
Image: Alice Waithera
The coffee department in the last five years introduced farmers’ field schools and invested in provision of subsidised farm inputs to boost production.
It also improved the efficiency of coffee primary processing through training of factory managers and the construction of new coffee drying tables.
Over 4.2 million coffee seedlings were also distributed to coffee farmers for free to increase the acreage of the crop.
To further boost production, the county administration will establish coffee nurseries to produce grafted coffee seedlings that will be distributed to farmers.
It plans to boost extension services, support leaf and soil analysis and promote the use of ICT in extension services.
The County government has established a coffee cupping laboratory that helps farmers to test the quality of their coffee before it is sold.
“It has also introduced Kenya coffee to the Singapore online coffee auction and Nebraska State in the USA to diversify the market for local coffee,” the document reads.
Coffee factories will be supported to establish coffee roasting units and diversify to other income streams to cushion farmer when the coffee earnings are low.
With majority of the factories using outdated manual systems for records keeping, the devolved unit will enforce the use of computers in data management and communication.
Other flagship programmes include the agriculture inputs subsidy programme that will cost of Sh1 billion to promote agricultural production and food security, and establishment of a Sh250 million Maragua wholesale hub to ease access to products from the county.
Kenol Level 4 hospital will cost Sh320 million while Universal Health Care programme for vulnerable households will cost Sh850 million.
Smart Towns programme that will see town upgraded will cost Sh1 billion while maternal health and infant support in which expectant mothers will receive Sh4,000 to help them access antental care will cost Sh850 million.
-Edited by SKanyara