Chelugui: Coffee farmers to receive Sh80 per kilo within a month

Small-scale coffee farmers are set to benefit after the government directed that a kilo of the produce be sold at a minimum price of Sh80.

The new policy, Cherry Advance Revolving Fund (CCARF) with echoes of Guaranteed Minimum Returns (GMR) will be implemented in the 37 coffee-growing counties.

Launching the fund in Makueni and Machakos counties on Tuesday, Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui said the cherry fund is one of the key reforms that will return coffee farming to profitability.

The fund will be administered by the New Kenya Planters' Cooperative Union (KPCU) which was represented by chairman Daniel Chemno and Managing Director Timothy Mirugi.

The Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund was established to provide an affordable, sustainable and accessible cherry advance to smallholder coffee farmers. These are farmers with land under coffee not exceeding 20 acres.

"Farmers will be paid the Sh80 per kilo within a month after delivery of the coffee," Chelugui said.

He said Sh40 would be paid once the farmer takes the coffee to the factory and the remainder of Sh40 within a month after the coffee is pulped.

Chelugui said all small-scale coffee farmers will benefit from the fund and urged them to go back to their farms to increase production so that they can earn more.

He said should the farmers’ coffee fetch more than Sh80, the balance will be paid off to them as a bonus and in the event the prices go down, the government will cushion them with the GMR.

He said more reforms are on the way to return coffee to its former glory and ensure that farmers get a fair reward for their hard work.

Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti who attended the event in Kangundo called on the government to waive the coffee farmers' debts.

She said her government is already supporting farmers using subsidised fertilisers and would like the national government to step in and provide subsidised farm chemicals to further help the farmers.

The Machakos governor wants the national government to also help build dams which farmers could use to irrigate their farms during the dry seasons and to ensure continuous production.

She said with proper support, coffee production in her county could increase more than five times because currently, each tree is producing about 2kgs of coffee while the capacity is more than 10kgs.