Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has assured coffee farmers of a solution to financial challenges facing them including possible waiver of their debts.
Gachagua said the government will not relent in the ongoing reforms of the agricultural sector, adding that the government is taking more actions to spur the farmers’ income in the coffee industry.
His assurance comes one month after a section of leaders from coffee-growing counties called on the government to bail out the growers from debts.
He made the remarks when addressing hundreds of coffee farmers in Maragua, Murang’a county after commissioning the newly constructed Murang’a Coffee Mills Factory.
He said, “Myself and Cabinet Secretaries Prof Njuguna Ndung’u for National Treasury and Simon Chelugui for Cooperatives will address the issue of debts and find a solution.”
The debts are owed by coffee farmers to financial lenders and buyers.
The DP added that the government has defeated the cartels and unscrupulous brokers that had infiltrated the coffee sub-sector.
“I was instructed by President William Ruto to lead the reforms and we are doing well. We have cornered and defeated the cartels and export earnings have doubled in the last one year,” said the Deputy President.
He explained that the aim of the government’s interventions in the sub-sector, such as increment of the Cherry Fund from Sh4 billion to Sh6 billion, distribution of subsidised fertiliser and search for more foreign markets, is to boost farmers’ earnings and boost the rural economy.
At the event, the DP was accompanied by CS Chelugui and Murang’a Governor Dr Irungu Kang’ata
Also present were the New KPCU managing director Timothy Mirugi, Acting CEO Nairobi Coffee Exchange Lisper Ndung’u and Murang’a Cooperative Farmers Union Chairman Francis Ngone.
