First payout by coffee miller is sweet news for farmers

Coffee farmers in Meru County are set to earn between Sh40 and Sh65 per kg of the commodity for the November and December deliveries.

The rates apply for farmers affiliated to  Meru County Coffee Millers Union.

Farmers from Njoe Farmer’s Co-operative Society will be paid Sh97 per kg of the dry coffee beans known as Mbuni while their counterparts from Katheri will get Sh138 per kg of the same type of coffee. 

This was revealed by Meru governor Peter Munya during a press briefing on the performance of the Meru County Coffee Millers Union which he commissioned in February this year.

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Munya termed the move by farmers to sell their commodity from a central place as timely.

“I want to commend you for coming up with the idea of having a central milling plant for your coffee. Now we can boast of being the first county in Kenya to sell milled coffee directly to buyers at premium prices,” said the governor.

Munya also said his adminstration will come up with various interventions to assist farmers improve the quality of their produce so that it can fetch higher prices in the international market.

He said the measures will include provision of agricultural extension services an farm inputs as well as  starting of coffee nurseries in all societies.

“We will start coffee nurseries in all coffee societies so that farmers can get coffee varieties suited for their ecological zones,” said the governor. 

The governor said it was the first farmers in the area were selling their produce directly to buyers.

COFFEE HAWKING

 He urged farmers to desist from hawking their coffee, adding that middlemen who been “reaping from where they did not sow” should now seek alternative way of earning a living as farmers will be delivering their coffee to the union for milling and selling.

He said they are expecting an output of around 16 million kilos in the April-June harvest season, which will earn the farmers over Sh1 billion.

“I know coffee cartels are not happy about this as their time is up. Farmers will now be taking their coffee to the milling plant and from where it will be sold directly to buyers,” Munya further said. 

The union milled 86,000kg of coffee and sold all of it to Switzerland and Germany earning a total of Sh19.4 million.

The governor was franked by his deputy Rafael Muriungi, member of the county executive committee in charge of Co-operatives Development M’mithiaru Mithika, Chief of Staff Julius Kimathi and two directors of the Meru County Coffee Millers union.