County to process, sell its own coffee in new strategy

By KATHURE MUKURU

Meru, Kenya: Meru County will now be processing and selling its own coffee after societies in the area partnered with the county government to boost the commodity’s marketing.

During a consultative coffee leaders meeting at Kamunde hall in Meru town, over 40 societies agreed to partner with the county government in production of Meru Coffee, which they will also package and market locally and internationally.

Speaking during the meeting, the Executive Member for Co-operatives, Tourism and Enterprise Development Ntoitha M’Mithiaru said the process would commence next month.

“For years, Meru coffee has continued to be the best in the country but instead of Meru farmers reaping the fruits of their hard work the benefits have gone to brokers and milling companies,” he said.

He said the coffee was milled, processed and mixed or used to add value to other products and not even sold as a Meru product.

The official said they would use the former Kenya Planters Coffee Union’s milling plant that has been idle in the town.

“This is one of the county’s strategies in ensuring we are self reliant because our farmers will benefit directly from their coffee. Middlemen and other millers will no longer take advantage of them,” he said.

Mithiaru said the coffee would not be enough for local consumption because they had already identified markets in China and Japan, adding that Europe, which previously was the market for the mixed coffee, would now receive the pure brand.

He attributed the earlier collapse of coffee farming to poor management of the industry assuring the farmers that the government had put in place strategies to prevent a repeat.

“Coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world and I can assure our farmers there is ready market both locally and internationally so what they need to do is plant more,” he said.

sector collapsed

He said Meru alone had a population of about 1.4 million coffee drinkers, which could be easily maintained through the new process.

Mithiaru also said they were introducing a training programme for officers on proper management, which would be ICT based in addition to drafting laws that would see issues of misappropriation dealt with.

Joseph Mwobi, a leader in Thagara Coffee Society, Imenti South, expressed his joy at the move saying farmers had suffered greatly when the coffee sector collapsed.

“As coffee farmers we have decided to take the initiative to maintain and improve this commodity, which has been our pride and helped us get educated and educate our children,” he said.