Somebody do something, we are producing less coffee than we did in 1963

Evalyne Nyawira picks coffee at her farm in Kiamutuira, Kirinyaga County: Kenya needs to invest more efforts in the revival of the once vibrant top foreign exchange earner. [Joseph Muchiri, Standard]

Once upon a time coffee was the number one foreign exchange earner for Kenya. Earnings from the crop paid for all family requirements. I doubt if there was a more respected person in the village in those days than a coffee farmer.

But, like the life of a sisal farmer in the semi-arid areas, the coffee farmer too slowly lost the glory. Sisal for many years was Kenya’s number three most important export earner.