Coffee farmers have been assured of higher pay in the incoming season of 2025/2026 as the government is firming up the reforms to ensure timely availability of fertilizer, subsidized pesticides and certified coffee seedlings through better resourcing from the Coffee Research Institute.
Deputy President Professor Kithure Kindiki said the government is putting together all the resources and policies required to ensure the farmers’ interests are taken care of from production to marketing.
Speaking at Kianjang’a Primary School Grounds, Ndia in Kirinyaga County, where he held an open engagement forum with 12,000 coffee farmers from Ndia Constituency, the DP updated farmers on government interventions in the incoming coffee season and received suggestions on how to sustain profitability in the sector from the farmers’ representatives.
“To ensure farmers receive their inputs on time, the government is firming up reforms that will guarantee timely access to fertilizer, subsidized pesticides, and certified coffee seedlings,” Kindiki said.
Professor Kindiki noted that the two houses Parliament will soon finalize the enactment of the Coffee Act, 2025 and the Cooperatives Act, 2025, adding the new legal framework will enhance governance and accountability within cooperative societies and coffee factories, while removing exploitative middlemen who have long benefitted at the expense of farmers.
In the just-ended season a kilo of cherries fetched Sh. 110-150 across societies in Mt Kenya region with highest being in Othaya, Nyeri County which paid Sh. 162 per kilo.
Farmers at the meeting voiced their appreciation for the ongoing reforms and called for further support in marketing, access to finance, and protection from price manipulation.
Among those who attended the engagement forum were MPs George Kariuki (Ndia), Joseph Gitari (Kirinyaga Central), Wangui Ngirici, Chairperson of Kenya Seed Company and Kirinyaga County Assembly leadership.
By Mutai Kipngetich
