This archive report was first published on 5 November 2021.
Central Farmers Demand Majority Representation on Coffee Board ¶
Published on November 5, 2021
Coffee farmers in Kirinyaga County have called for majority representation on the Coffee Board of Kenya, citing their expertise in addressing coffee issues.
During a public participation session on the proposed Coffee Bill 2021, farmers expressed their opposition to the State's plan to appoint non-growers as Board members.
Justus Waweru, a coffee farmer, argued that it would be unfair to have non-growers as representatives at the Board since they do not understand the sector.
“We want the Board chairman to be elected from amongst ourselves. It would be unfair to have non-growers as the representatives at the board since they do not understand the sector,” he told the committee.
Meanwhile, in Murang'a County, the Murang'a Farmers Co-operative Union has crafted innovative strategies to tackle the persistent woes affecting the coffee industry.
The union's chairman, Francis Guthega Ngone, explained that the strategies aim to address the entire coffee production chain to empower small holder growers to manage the business effectively.
One of the strategies includes constructing multimillion coffee milling plants to address industrial processes of the crop.
The mill is owned by the farmers through shareholding by the co-operative union and societies, and the co-operative union will independently operate the mill and marketing of the produce.
The chairman recalled that the county has had a good history of being a major coffee producer before failures occasioned by malpractices emerged.
Among the strategies lined up to attract farmers back to the farming fields are a guaranteed minimum price of Sh70 per kilogram of cherry sold to the mill, prompt payment within a set time frame, and the rebranding of the industry.
