- Farmers who were previously excluded from attending price negotiation auctions will now produce, mill, negotiate and export the coffee to the global market.
- The coffee industry contributes an annual average of $230 million (Sh2.72 billion) in foreign exchange earnings as Kenya’s third most important export commodity.
Image: FILE
Hundreds of smallholder coffee farmers in Kisii county will now sell their coffee directly to the global market.
The move will see the farmers who are under Gusii Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union bypassing the current rigorous coffee value chain intermediaries, leading to double earnings from their crop.
This comes even as a delegation from a South Korean coffee-buying company, Kang Sunggyu, visited the county to broker the cost of the crop which authorities said will cause disconnection between international and local coffee auctions at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.
Kisii Agriculture executive, Esman Onsarigo, said the South Korean coffee buyer was identified by the county as one of the companies that might receive direct sales.
He assured the buyer of quality coffee courtesy of collaboration between the county and the local farmers’ union.
Coffee investor, Kang Sunggyu of Good Beans, said he was impressed with the coffee farmers in the county and assured them of good proceeds, saying Korea was among the major consumers of coffee.
But the Union’s chief executive Robert Mainya expressed fears they may not satisfy the buyer’s demands owing to the low quantities produced and the expected high demand.
Mainya, however, said he will ensure farmers were empowered to produce enhanced and quality crop for the direct sale abroad.
Presidential Task Force on Coffee Subsector chairman Joseph Keyah revealed that the buyer (Good Beans) had the capacity to purchase 172 metric tonnes of coffee with instant payments upon delivery by the farmers.
Farmers who were previously excluded from attending price negotiation auctions will now produce, mill, negotiate and export the coffee to the international market but in adherence to existing NCE regulations.
The coffee industry has been one of the key pillars of the country’s economic development for decades, contributing an annual average of $230 million (Sh2.72 billion) in foreign exchange earnings as Kenya’s third most important export commodity, after horticulture and tea.
However, this is a dismal performance according to Ministry of Agriculture top officials, and requires urgent interventions to reverse the negative trend and ensure sustainability for the sector.
Agriculture CAS Lawrence Omuhaka said the ministry had moved to revamp the industry in a bid to raise the average national coffee production from 2kg to 5kg per tree per year within the next three years, and raise the growers gross earnings by 50 per cent per year.
He was addressing farmers during a coffee stimulus programme sensitisation forum in Kisii town.
Omuhaka, who was representing Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, said the revitalisation programme seeks to support production expansion and adoption of improved coffee varieties.
The programme also hopes to increase the use of affordable or subsidised farm inputs and training of farmers on best agricultural practices.
This is bound to upscale production in Kisii which currently stands at 2.5kg per tree to 4kg with better agricultural methods and motivation of farmers.
The government is targeting smallholder coffee farmers belonging to a cooperative society, small estate coffee farmers or any other farmers belonging to an association holding less than 20 acres of coffee.
The move is meant to liberate the coffee farmers from private millers and brokers believed to be blocking government’s efforts to improve the coffee sector.
There are 22 coffee societies and 72 factories in the Gusii region that need to apply best farming practices to improve the quality of produce.
(edited by Amol Awuor)