This archive report was first published on 6 June 2020.
Kenya's coffee industry is on the verge of a significant boost, thanks to an ambitious government program to provide adequate planting materials to farmers. The program, part of the Big4 Agenda, aims to increase production and enhance the country's profile internationally.
As part of this initiative, the Ministry of Agriculture is set to distribute 140,000 seedlings to small-holder farmers across the country's coffee-growing regions. The seedlings have been raised in CRI nurseries located in various counties, including Kericho, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, and Meru.
According to Dr. Eliud Kireger, Director General of the Kenya Agricultural Livestock and Research Organization (KALRO), the provision of adequate planting materials is set to tame the decreasing production and enhance the country's profile internationally. He noted that the development of new varieties has contributed to the expansion of the area under coffee, with farmers in non-traditional regions like Western and Rift Valley embracing the crop.
CSIC chairman Joseph Kieyah explained that the financing of the Ksh5.6 million project was part of the recommendations highlighted by the National Coffee Task Force Report 2016. He noted that the production and access to quality coffee planting material have remained one of the main challenges that limited coffee expansion and production.
Kenya's peak production reached about 130,000 metric tonnes in 1987/88, but the output has been oscillating between 40,000 and 50,000 metric tonnes due to various factors. The current demand for coffee planting materials for resistant coffee varieties – Ruiru 11 and Batian – is expected to continue into the foreseeable future, and CRI may not be in a position to meet the amount of coffee seedlings required by farmers due to limited funding.
As part of the initiative, the committee has allocated CRI an additional sum of Sh10 million to produce 250,000 Ruiru 11 and Batian seedlings for distribution to small scaler farmers in the coming October short rains season. The committee has also allocated Sh4.3 million to finance soil sampling and testing in the counties not covered.
Dr. Elijah Gichuru, CRI director, explained that the country has an annual demand of between six and 10 million seedlings against a production capacity of about one million. He noted that with assistance from various local and international organizations, CRI has been supplying planting materials to farmers in the country, though still not able to meet the demand.
For example, in 2013, the European Union (EU) extended a Sh277 million grant to Kenya under the Coffee Productivity Project (CPP) to finance decentralization of coffee research activities and enhance access to farmers. The project resulted in the supply of seedlings of new coffee varieties – Batian and Ruiru 11 – to over 60,000 smallholder farmers, leading to an increase in coffee farming by over 3,500 acres.
By Wangari Ndirangu
