Coffee farmers in Kenya are seeking the government aid in facilitating them to sell their produce directly to consumers through embassies and high commissions in coffee-consuming countries.
Speaking during coffee farmers exhibition at Ndaroini coffee factory in Nyeri, the farmers said that their produce can be bought as high as Sh200 of raw cherry if the government link them directly to consumers.
“At the moment coffee cannot be said to be paying well but if the government opens this widow of direct marketing though our embassies, I am sure we can pay our farmers more than Sh200 for every cherry they deliver to us,” said the chairman of the factory, Joseph Mukua.
Speciality coffee
Mukua who has been paying farmers Sh100 per kilo each year says that linkage to market is the key to good agribusiness in the coffee industry since most farmers’ money is lost through brokers and marketers in the industry.
At the moment, most Kenyan coffee regarded as speciality coffee is sold through auction at Nairobi coffee exchange where most of farmers have no say and are at the mercy of brokers. Although the government has opened up direct coffee marketing many of buyers are yet to link with farmers directly and have to use intermediaries commonly known as brokers. Most of the farmers interviewed said that the government also need to regulate taxes that have made prices of farmers inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides unaffordable.
“At the moment fee farmers will be able to apply fertilizers in the farms due to its high price why can’t the government subside them through removal of taxes,” said Mukua.
Coffee production in the country according to statics from ministry of agriculture has gone down to all-time low with the country producing 20,000 metrics tonnes of parchment coffee as opposed to 100,000 metric tonnes in the eighties. So far the ministry led by agriculture CS Peter Munya has said it will institute measures among the subsidies and soft loans to farmers in an effort to revive coffee farming .
