Kenyan coffee is the most sought after in the international markets, but local farmers wallow in poverty and complain of lack of market for their produce.
Jackson Ngari and Charles Gatere, farmers in Nyeri County, believe a breakdown in the marketing chain and a system designed to exploit coffee farmers are the major reasons behind this lack of market.
“If the government does not guarantee that we will get market for the coffee then we will still be stuck in the same position,” says Ngari.
Gatere, also as a board member at Othaya Farmers’ Cooperative Society, says the government should form partnerships between the growers and the companies processing the coffee abroad.
“One of the reasons why Kenyan coffee is sought after is so that buyers can add value to it. So the farmers need to have a link with the market directly so that we can remove brokers,” he says.
For the first time in decades, coffee farmers hope the sub-sector will be invigorated by the interventions by the national and county governments.
There has been a lot of activity in the coffee sector such as the Coffee Bill sponsored by Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, which seeks to ban the export of raw coffee even as the state roots for agro-processing to stimulate job creation.
Yet the Bill, which has already been published and will be subjected to public participation, has drawn more criticism than applause for the radical reforms it proposes.
The enduring question has been what route should the country takes to market its coffee, and each county government has come up with its own solution.
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has made revival of coffee farming a major issue in her government and is a passionate critic of the Coffee Bill.
In July, Waiguru, County Assembly Majority Leader James Murango and Finance and Trade Chief Officer Sheila Mukunya were in Italy where they met with Patrick Hoffer, the chairperson of coffee roasters in Italy and Francesco Sanapo, head of Specialty Coffee.
According to the governor, engaging with the markets is the sole determinant of the factors that affect the quantity, quality and condition of the supply.
“The problem is not the form in which our coffee is exported, the problem is the market. If we get better markets for our coffee, we will increase returns for our farmers and lead to improved living standards,” says Waiguru.
There have also been a host of delegations in the country from the United States of America who are keen on exporting coffee from Kenya.
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Value addition
Late last month, Nebraska Senator Dan Quick was in the country to deliberate on the modalities of shipping coffee directly to the US.
The visit was preceded by that of International Coffee Organisation executive director Jose Sette who visited Nyeri and Kirinyaga counties and held talks with Governors Mutahi Kahiga and Waiguru.
Further, the International Coffee Organisation Council meeting will take place in Kenya from March 25 to 29 next year where the coffee farmers will interact with players from other exporting and importing countries.
Governor Kahiga says Nyeri County has a big role to play in efforts to increase coffee production and value addition, including supporting coffee societies in milling and packaging.
He says the county is working closely with the coffee sector implementation committee and is one of the counties earmarked to pilot implementation of coffee reforms recommended by the presidential task force.
For the first time, coffee farmers in the grassroots are able to monitor the performance of their produce live from the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) where about 85 per cent of Kenya’s coffee is sold abroad.
In what could mark the beginning of transparency in the trade involving the cash crop, hundreds of excited farmers from different coffee societies can now follow the process from the counties.
Trade Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya says the goal was to market Kenyan coffee as a specialty commodity.
“Coffee will be traded the way shares are traded in the Nairobi Stock Exchange. If a buyer in New York has a better bid than a buyer in Saudi Arabia farmers will see that in real time,” says Munya.
Gatere, a farmer from Othaya, believes the new method will cut out the manipulation seen in the traditional auction and introduce transparency.
Huge potential
“Over the years, the auction was conducted through the traditional open outcry method which was susceptible to manipulation and lacked transparency,” says Gatere.
All the counties in Mt Kenya region have stepped in to help coffee societies mill the produce so that they can sell a finished product.
In Nyeri, Governor Kahiga says the societies had the capacity to mill 500,000 tonnes of coffee but were only milling 40,000.
“Currently we have Othaya, Barichu, Rumukia and Gikanda coffee societies that have their own milling factories. We plan to boost at least one of the mills so it can handle all the necessary value addition for the county,” he says.
In Embu, Governor Martin Wambora says the county is at an advanced stage of processing and packaging its own branded coffee.
He says the coffee will be processed at the county mill in Kavutiri and sold in Saudi Arabia and America.
But if the government has taken a step in marketing then it has taken a leap towards improving the quality and quantity of coffee produced.
Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri says coffee production had fallen partly because farmers had planted poor varieties and high soil acidity.