This is how politics is killing coffee sector

 A worker sorts out coffee cherry at Kirimara-Mutanga coffee factory yard, one of the large scale coffee farms in Nyeri County. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

Kenya: The drama surrounding coffee growing, milling and marketing institutions should be an apt lesson for county and national governments as well as the farmers bearing the brunt of their leaders’ mistakes of commission or omission.

First, it is imperative that leaders do their homework before rushing to offer solutions that would prove more injurious to farmers’ interests than the problems they were meant to solve. Take the case of Nyeri County Governor Nderitu Gachagua’s well-meant initiative to market coffee directly to various global markets. The numerous hurdles encountered along the way should have been foreseen and cleared in advance. The creditors demanding more than Sh850 million should have consulted and an understanding reached on how they would be paid their dues before the decision to take away, what to some of them amounts to their entire livelihood, away. That would have given both sides time to adjust to the new realities on the ground.

The county authority could have used the interim period profitably by taking steps that would increase farm productivity so much that the payment of the outstanding loans would have had little effect on farmers’ earnings. The good news for the county is that there is a group of farmers already doing that and are reaping huge dividends. An inspiring story published in The Standard’s Business Beat early last month show-cased a farmer who is part of a group of 159 women turning the industry on its head with assistance from two organisations. The women drawn from nine farmers’ co-operative societies are trained on good coffee husbandry, which has seen their production increase tremendously.

One has seen her 450 trees produce an average of 13 kilogrammes each compared to the national estimate of 2.5 kilogrammes. Her earnings have also gone through the roof from Sh60,000 to Sh495,900 in a single crop per year despite the price being only Sh55 compared to what farmers in Kirinyaga and Meru counties reportedly received; Sh78 and Sh80 per kilogramme respectively.

It is noteworthy that in championing the selling of Nyeri coffee directly to overseas buyers, Governor Gachagua was promising the same price the two neigbouring counties got without making much noise about it. This strengthens the argument that the Governor’s efforts are deliberately sabotaged for political and business reasons. This would be a pity because local farmers and the county’s economy is paying a heavy price.

Subsidise inputs

Let it be hoped that tempers will be allowed to cool and the county leadership will go back to the drawing board. Obviously, the first step is to acknowledge mistakes were made and move quickly and restore the horse before the cart and not the other way round as the governor and his supporters had sought to do.

The county should follow this up by building its capacity to offer farmers training and financial support they need to follow the footsteps of the pioneering women. If this means employing more extension workers qualified in coffee husbandry and spending some of the money received from the national government to subsidise agricultural inputs so be it. The rewards would be even greater if the governor fixed the problems ailing the coffee industry before moving on to tea because that would repair his credibility in and outside the county.

It is also hoped other coffee- producing counties will learn from the Nyeri debacle and avoid making similar mistakes. The wrangles rocking the giant Gakungu Coffee Cooperative Society in Embu County, for example, need to be resolved as expeditiously as possible.

This means the relevant national government bodies should speedily investigate the allegations made against the ousted board members and have them either reinstated or thrown out and taken to court to face criminal charges. This is the only way sanity can be restored in cooperative societies many of which have been looted with impunity over the years.

Investigations would also be in order in Kiambu County to determine just what is ailing the coffee industry because the reported payment of Sh20 per kilogramme for a crop that is fetching four times the price in other counties should not be tolerated. Perhaps, county leaders in coffee-growing regions should be encouraged to visit Baringo County to learn how a Korean development agency is partnering with the government to revive the ailing coffee industry.

World Best Friends (WBF), a Kenyan-based Korean development agency, last month, donated Sh100 million for acquisition and construction of a milling plant in Baringo County. The county is expected to give a similar amount.

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