The Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives, MSMEs, and Development Wycliffe Oparanya has appealed to farmers in potential coffee farming production areas of the country to venture into the crop’s production so as to benefit from the growing global demand for the beverage.
Speaking in Bomet County during a sensitisation meeting on the revival of coffee farming in the region, Oparanya noted that pyrethrum production in Kenya was still low at an average of 50,000 metric tonnes per year, against a possible potential to produce tenfold if farmers embraced cash crop production.
He reminisced that in the coffee production boom of the 1970s and 1980s, Kenya was among the world leading producers, at par with Brazil and Ethiopia, hence the need to address the prevailing slump and underperformance in coffee production.
The minister said that to address this, the government had embarked on a nationwide deliberate coffee revival campaign aimed at encouraging and supporting farmers and farmer groups to step up the uptake of coffee production for local and export markets.
Oparanya outlined the government’s firm commitment to rejuvenating the coffee sector, in an ambitious and accelerated quest for the benefit of farmers and farmer cooperatives across the country
He said that the government had allocated Sh2 billion towards the revival of coffee farming nationwide, while Sh500 million has been set aside specifically for the purchase of coffee seedlings for distribution to farmers for free this year.
“These seedlings will be distributed to coffee cooperatives across the country. Plans are underway to also procure pulping machines to enhance initial coffee processing so that we address both quality and quantity challenges facing our farmers,” the CS revealed.
He said that in a bid to ensure the success of the coffee production revival programme, the government was also set to facilitate capacity building among farmers at the grassroots.
He said that, effectively, two farmer representatives from each ward in Bomet and other target counties would be sponsored to undertake training at the Coffee Research Institute and the Cooperative University on the best practices in coffee production, management and cooperative development.
Oparanya underscored the overall objective of the coffee revival initiative in the empowerment of local farmers by boosting productivity and return besides restoring Kenya’s historical significance in coffee production in the world market.
He urged the youth to also venture into coffee production and embrace the cooperative movement so as to forge common fronts to profitably approach both local and international markets.
The leadership and residents of Bomet County welcomed the move, expressing optimism about the positive economic impact it would have on the region, with Bomet Deputy Governor David Rotich giving an undertaking that the county government would actively partner with the players in the coffee sector to steer coffee production in the county.
By Erick Ongeri
