Coffee farmers will from this year receive a minimum of Sh 80 per kilo of cherry delivered after the government launched the Sh 6.7billion Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund in Makueni and Machakos counties.
Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives Simon Chelugui while launching the fund at Kangundo DEB grounds in Machakos County said coffee farmers now have a Guaranteed Minimum Return (GMR) pegged at Sh 80 per kilo as promised during the election campaigns.
Chelugui said should the coffee earn more than Sh 80 per kilo, the rest of the money will be paid to them as bonus and if the cost goes down, the government will shield the farmers.
He said the Sh 80 will be paid within a month afbest soccer jerseys luvme human hair wigs custom maple leafs jersey best soccer jerseys air max goaterra 2.0 custom youth hockey jerseys custom nhl hockey jerseys cheap wigs uberlube luxury lubricant best human hair wigs for black females ja morant jersey original custom nfl football jerseys luvme human hair wigs adidas yeezy prezzo basso custom kings jerseyter delivery of coffee, with Sh 40 paid on delivery to the pulping station (factory) and the other Sh 40 paid after pulping. He said the whole process should take about 4 weeks and farmers will receive the money.
Chelugui urged farmers to go back to their farms and increase production saying the market for coffee was very big and continues to expand. He said the fund will be administered by the New KPCU that was represented by the chairman Daniel Chemno and the Managing Director Timothy Mirugi
He said the government is dealing with cartels and will kick them out of coffee and farmers should not be worried but concentrate on production. The CS said there is a new law that is being prepared that will deal with all the problems that coffee farmers have been suffering from.
Chelugui noted that in Machakos County for instance a coffee tree produces an average of 1.5k of coffee while it has the potential to produce up to 10 kgs. He said there is a farm in Meru where a coffee tree has produced even 50kgs. He told farmers that even without planting new trees, they have the potential to ear more than 5 times from the trees they currently have by improving the crop husbandry.
Machakos County governor Wavinya Ndeti who attended the session together with officials and several MCAs called on the government to write off coffee farmers’ debts the way they it did to sugar debts for the Western region. She said if the debts are written off, farmers will be happy to return to the farms because most of their earning have been going to clear debts they know little about.
“Recognising the pivotal role of coffee in our economic growth and its significant support to over 5 million Kenyans involved in the whole coffee value chain, we’ve undertaken strategic initiatives to enhance production. To address the decline in coffee production caused by price volatility and high production costs, the government has taken decisive steps which will see our coffee production increase from the current 51,000 MT to over 100,000 MT by 2025,” Mwaûra stated.
“The government has disbursed 6 billion shillings to coffee farmers to bolster the Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund distribution and implement a comprehensive coffee production sensitisation program.”
New KPCU chairman Daniel Chemno said the distribution will start in Makueni, Machakos, Kajiado and Taita Taveta Counties before heading to Nyeri, Kirinyaga and Mûrang’a counties.
Last year, Chelugui said the government was planning major changes in the coffee industry and said the GMR was one of the many that will be implemented this year.
“For a long time, the coffee industry has suffered from a lack of finance, poor governance competition from other beverages, for example, tea and juices. Massive split of the primary farmers coffee cooperative societies into smaller units has led to sharp decline of the crop production and contributed to mass exodus of farmers to other economic subsectors.
