The government has expressed its commitment to completing the ongoing reforms and pursuing additional initiatives and investments to ensure the prosperity of the coffee sub-sector.
Cooperatives cabinet secretary Simon Chelugui said his ministry is at the forefront of ensuring that coffee productivity increases from 2kgs per tree to over 15 kgs per tree.
Speaking Wednesday when he attended a forum organized by KPCU at Safari Park Hotel, Chelugui noted that this will lead to an increased production from the current 51,000 metric tons to over 200, 000 in the next five years.
“This will only happen if farmers go back to their coffee farms to increase productivity and register to uptake the government’s subsidized fertilizer program,” he said.
The CS also used the opportunity to highlight key outstanding issues that need to be addressed in the sub-sector.
Apart from the ongoing reforms, Chelugui stated that the Nairobi Coffee Exchange will be restructured and modernized to align with coffee regulations.
This, he noted, includes the establishment of a cupping lab and the appointment of an interim Board of Directors.
Other measures include interventions completion of liquidation, refurbishment of the milling plant, cupping lab, and warehouses, as well as the development of an Act of Parliament to re-establish New KPCU as a State Corporation.
“We are also reviewing and amending the Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund Regulations to enhance accessibility,” he said.
The government recently approved Sh4 billion to the fund raising the total amount to Sh6.7 billion.
The money to be managed by new KPCU means that farmers will see farmers get Sh80 per kilo of cherry delivered to factories up from Sh2o per kilo.
Chelugui further stated announced plans to review and approve the National Coffee Development and marketing strategy and anchor the coffee inputs subsidy initiative under new KPCU for strengthening cooperative institutions.
Other interventions include upgrading the coffee quality lab at AFA Coffee directorate to minimize the risk of rejection in global markets and the approval of coffee sessional Paper 2023 and enactment of the Coffee Bill 2023 and Cooperatives Bill 2023.
