Farmers count losses as Covid-19 pandemic hits coconut sales

Mr. John Mwambire, a farmer from Mkao Moto village in Malindi Sub County

The future of the revival of coconut farming in Kilifi County is uncertain after the county government diverted resources to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Farmers in the area are now calling on the county government to restore the agriculture budget since farming will be useful even after the pandemic.

Mr. John Mwambire, a farmer from Mkao Moto village in Malindi Sub County who prepares coconut seedlings said that the county had delayed procuring coconut seedlings for farmers.

He foresees a loss of more than Sh1.6 million from his 10,000-coconut seedling nursery after the buying ability of farmers and the county government dwindled due COVID-19 directives in the coastal region.

“I started this business in 2017 after the county government launched the coconut farming recovery programme and that year I sold 4, 000 seedlings to both the county government and individual farmers,” he told journalists at his farm.

He added that he invested more into the production of seedlings by increasing his production from 4,000 to 10,000 seedlings with the hope that he will make a kill but that was not the case when COVID 19 struck forcing the county government to disrupt its programmes.

“I am not even sure if I will make Sh. 400,000 from the seedlings this season because even individual farmers are also unable to come and buy. Some of them come as far as Kwale, Mombasa, and Tana River but the containment measures by the government has restricted movements hence dealing the business a blow,” he added.

He said that a coconut tree seedling is sold at between Sh250 and Sh450 but they had been forced to drop the price to below Sh200, and even with that price cut there are no customers.

According to the farmer, the coconut business was lucrative in the 1990s but collapsed after a processing firm closed shop and shifted to Tanzania.

“This is the crop that took me to school back then and our parents never lacked money for fees but when it collapsed the whole region was affected and some people even cut down their trees,” he added.

He urged the county government to fast track the implementation of the construction of a processing factory that is expected to be complete by December this year.

The Chief Officer in the department of agriculture in the county Fredrick Kaingu said that the department had budgeted to procure 30,000 indigenous coconut tree seedlings for distribution to farmers adding that it will help to increase the tree crop cover for coconut.

“We are putting more effort to improve the acreage under the coconut tree; we expect to buy 30,000 seedlings for our farmers. Our distribution to them will be based on their ability to provide enough water for the seedlings. We noted that in the last financial year about 20 percent of coconut seedlings failed to germinate due to drought,” he said.

The coconut plant has many products including the coconut fruit popularly known as madafu, coconut oil for cooking and medicinal value, roofing materials among other uses.