Prices, delayed payment hurting coffee farmers Posted by: The People in National October 31, 2013 The Kenya Coffee Producers Association has embarked on a plan to raise production of the crop in Mt Kenya region. The association intends to raise the current rate of 1.5 kilogrammes per tree to between three and four kilogrammes per tree. KCPA director for Eastern and Coast regions, Zipporah Karanja, however, said they will first address policy and farmers welfare issues before implement ing the plan. Speaking at a farmers training session in Embu, Karanja said coffee production has dwindled in the recent years because of poor pay. “The low prices and delays in payments demotivate farmers; they must be boosted to produce high quantity and quality berries,” he said. She also said the government must streamline coffee marketing systems. Karanja said they are building the capacity of the farmers in agronomy, noting time has come for coffee farmers to adopt modern technologies. “Youth will be brought on board in the production of coffee because the country risks losing the knowledge and skills production as most farmers are getting old. The average age of coffee farmers is 65 years,” he said. “The youth have energy and expertise in various fields, and we have to bring them on board. That will be realised when we address issues of payment since the youth like fast money, and also ensure that prices are increased to dispel the notion that the sector does not pay,” she said. She said the association is encouraging farmers to give the youth and women some coffee trees to enable them be actively involved in the production. Project manager, Sarah Nyaga said they have launched a village savings and loans association where farmers are encouraged to save and get loans. Embu county Commissioner of Cooperatives, David Muriuki, said the ministry is working on laws to govern the movement of coffee from one region to another, noting there has been increased cases of coffee smuggling which have even led to loss of lives. The major coffee growing regions in Kenya are the high plateaus around Mt Kenya, the Aberdare Range, Kisii, Nyanza, Bungoma, Nakuru and Kericho. Currently, it is estimated that about 135,000 hectares of land is under coffee in Kenya, of which about 67 per cent is in the cooperative sub-sector and 33 per cent is in the estates. The highest coffee production figures in the country were recorded in 1987/88 when 128,926 tonnes of clean coffee was produced. This has been consistently reducing to the slightly above 40,000 metric tonnes produced in the last season — 2011/2012.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 06:42:42 +0000
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