BREATHING LIFE INTO COFFEE SECTOR STEP IN RIGHT PATH

Despite coffee being highly sourced from the international market, local production has continued to decline over the years, costing Kenyans billions of shillings in potential foreign exchange earnings. Thus

Meanwhile, it is unfortunate that many coffee farmers shave abandoned the crop and gone to more profit making ventures such as estates, but it is not too late to take about turn. Therefore as the country grapples with the intrigues of agriculture falling, under the watch of county government, the Agriculture sub- sector

Hoping that the ministry proposal to double coffee production from the current 50,000 to 100,000 metric tones in the next five years takes place, we cannot afford not to get it right this time round.

It is, therefore, laudable that some coffee producing counties have established own milling and marketing strategies to facilitate good returns for farmers .Nyeri, Kirinyaga and Meru have put in place mechanisms meant to move them away from past where brokers at the auction took charge to sell crop at determined price.

Also, recent government commitment to establish a sh5 billion kitty for existing coffee farmers ‘ expansion and bring on board news ones, is a move in the right direction. In Embu, for instance 24 coffee farmers societies are about to start milling, processing and packaging their coffee after receiving a Sh 90 million loan from the commodities fund to buy the machine

This wind of change sweeping the coffee sub-sector must spur the dwindling fortunes of farmers’ production which stands at 40,000 and 50,000 metric tones against apotential of 130,000 metric tones.