How they’re taking our coffee for just a song

Coffee farmers sort the cherry after they delivered their produce at Giakanja Coffee Factory in Nyeri. The farmers are getting little returns from their produce. [File, Standard]

Last December I brought the President a gift from the USA. My intention was to thoroughly annoy him into action. The gift was a small white coke-like can that was written on “Roasted Kenya Coffee”. Nothing more. Priced at $10 for 100gms. That adds up to $100 per kilo. Our farmers get less than $2 per kilo. Are we retarded? Unfortunately, the president’s handlers refused to deliver my gift. Mr President, if you are reading this, the gift is waiting for you, but we must act.

This is called “value addition”. Take any raw crop and add any processing and it increases in value. The Americans roasted our coffee beans, packed them into a white can and sent them to the supermarket.