President Ruto donates milk truck to Mathioya coffee farmers diversifying into dairy

President William Ruto has donated to Kangunu Coffee Farmers Cooperative Society in Mathioya a truck for transporting milk. The donation is to support the cooperative's diversification into the dairy sector and raise farmers’ returns.

The cooperative, which has diversified its operations from coffee to dairy aggregation, has said the vehicle will improve efficiency in transporting milk while reducing operational expenses that have for years eaten into farmers’ returns.

The co-operative’s chairman Chege Macharia who received the gift during a special general meeting on Monday said the truck will help subsidise production costs.

"The truck will help improve our milk transportation and reduce the cost of transporting it," Macharia said.

The society collects about 6,000 litres of milk daily and was previously hiring trucks.

Macharia said the savings made through the new truck will enable the cooperative to increase the milk buying price from Sh45 to Sh46 per litre beginning next month.

He said the cooperative will also reduce the number of trips required to collect milk from farmers, improving efficiency while ensuring more resources are channelled back to members through better prices and improved services.

Mathioya MP Edwin Mugo, who joined farmers during the handover, said the donation reflects the government's commitment to strengthening cooperative societies and improving the livelihoods of farmers through practical investments rather than political promises.

The legislator said the diversification has created an additional and reliable source of income for members while reducing dependence on coffee alone.

"We are happy that Kangunu, besides being a coffee factory, have ventured into the dairy sector. This is what we have been encouraging farmers to do to have several streams of income”.

He said farmers have also benefited from improved coffee prices, with the factory currently paying about Sh134 per kilogram, a significant increase compared to the Sh80 paid to farmers last year.

Mugo attributed the gains to reforms being implemented in the coffee sector, saying the national assembly is finalising the Cooperatives Bill and the Coffee Bill, which are expected to strengthen governance in cooperative societies and improve returns to farmers.

He expressed optimism that the reforms will further increase coffee and milk prices once fully implemented.

“We’re hopeful that come next year, at a time like this, a kilo of coffee will be costing over Sh200 and milk prices will have shot to Sh60 or Sh70 per litre,” he said, noting that his constituency is the leading coffee producer in the county.

The MP also revealed that the national government has allocated Sh2 billion in the new financial year's budget to offset debts owed by coffee factories across the country.

According to the MP, the funding will reduce the heavy burden facing cooperative societies, whose outstanding debts are estimated at about Sh6 billion.

Mugo said he will work with Murang'a Woman Representative Betty Maina to ensure coffee factories in Mathioya benefit from the debt waiver programme.

He added that government support has already funded the construction of solar coffee driers in 11 factories across the constituency, improving coffee quality and enhancing the value of farmers' produce.

Maina said the rising prices of coffee and milk are evidence that government interventions in agriculture are bearing fruit, adding that farmers are already experiencing the economic benefits of the ongoing reforms.

"Prices of agricultural commodities are steadily going up, yet some people still say that the government is doing nothing," she said.

She said strengthening cooperative societies through investments in infrastructure, value addition and sector reforms remains critical to increasing farmers' incomes, improving food security and stimulating economic growth in rural communities.

Maina urged more farmers to embrace diversification, saying combining coffee farming with dairy production provides households with a steady income throughout the year while making cooperatives more resilient and financially sustainable.