• Uhuru wants an urgent removal of all barriers that hinder coffee farmers from reaping maximum profits from the cash crop.
• President said that lack of proper regulations had given room for middlemen to benefit from coffee at the expense of hardworking farmers.
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday called for the urgent removal of all barriers that hinder coffee farmers from reaping maximum profits from the cash crop.
Speaking during a meeting with the International Coffee Organization (ICO) Executive Director José at Statehouse, Kenyatta said that lack of proper regulations had given room for middlemen to benefit from coffee at the expense of hardworking farmers thus leading to a decline in production of the crop that was once one of Kenya’s leading foreign exchange earners.
The ICO Executive Director José Sette said that Kenya is globally renowned for its premium quality coffee and praised the ongoing efforts by the government to get coffee farming back on track for the benefit of farmers including finding new markets for the crop.
Coffee is one of Kenya’s key cash crops but unfortunately it has been facing challenges. There is a need to streamline the sector so that farmers can benefitPresident Uhuru Kenyatta
The 124th Session of the International Coffee Council meeting will be held in Nairobi next week, from 25th to 29 March.
In March 2016, Uhuru set up a task force to investigate reasons for the continued losses in Kenya’s coffee industry.
In a statement, Uhuru said the 19-member National Task Force on Coffee Sub-Sector Reforms, which will report directly to him, will identify areas of needed interventions in the production, processing and marketing of coffee.
The committee was formed after rampant wrangles, cases of theft and low prices fetched and the committee is expected to come up with recommendations on how to make the cash crop profitable again.