This archive report was first published on 17 November 2021.
At the 1st Kenyan International Coffee Festival in Nairobi, coffee farmers from Murang'a, Embu, Tharaka Nithi, Meru, and Kirinyaga expressed their gratitude towards the sector implementation committee formed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2016.
The committee, led by Joseph Kieya, was tasked with reviewing the entire coffee chain and identifying areas that require interventions such as production, processing, and marketing.
According to Mr. Kieya, it is disheartening that Kenyan farmers, who produce some of the world's best coffee, cannot afford to drink it. He emphasized the need for farmers to enjoy the fruits of their labor, saying, 'We want the Kenyan farmer not to just wear gumboots in the farm; we want the farmer to also enjoy the coffee that they toil to produce.'
Ms. Susan Mugure from Digital Tolls for Agriculture added that coffee should not be an elite drink that is unaffordable to farmers who grow it. She questioned why Ethiopian farmers drink their coffee more than Kenyan farmers, saying, 'We want to know why Ethiopia's farmers drink their coffee more than we drink ours.'
One of the farmers, Peter Njogu from Gatanga, Murang'a, shared his personal experience, stating that many had given up on coffee farming due to its unprofitability. However, with the reforms, he and his fellow farmers are now enjoying better returns and a more fulfilling experience.
Published on November 17, 2021, at 09:15 AM.
