This archive report was first published on 22 June 2020.
Published on June 22, 2020, coffee farmers in Komothai, Kiambu County, have taken drastic measures to protest their poor earnings. They have uprooted their coffee trees, citing Sh14 per kilo as an insult to their sweat.
The farmers argue that the cost of producing one kilo of coffee is approximately Sh35, making the Sh14 pay even after processing a meager reward. They have turned to alternative crops such as vegetables, avocados, and dairy farming to make ends meet.
The farmers are disillusioned with cooperative society officials and brokers who they accuse of taking advantage of poor systems to rip them off. They also blame county officials in charge of overseeing cooperatives for failing in their job.
According to the farmers, production has gone down from 14 million kilos to 1.5 million per year, a clear indication of the hard times the coffee industry is undergoing. Ndichu Muturi, a farmer, lamented that Komothai was once a giant society but is now on its knees.
"If the government does not rescue us from this misery, we are going to uproot the bushes for other profitable crops," he said.
The farmers also want to be allowed to process their coffee now, capable as they are, but some people opposed to this will go to any lengths to frustrate their empowerment.
"We get 20 per cent cut from our pay so that the money is used to pay coffee mills workers among other bills. According to records, the workers have arrears of over 10 months or even one year," said Njenga Muchiri, another farmer.
Some farmers are using the trees to burn charcoal while others have left them unattended for months. Kaboci Gacura, 70, a retired civil servant, said they have been reduced to paupers.
