The battle to save Coffee farmers. Will the Government succeed?
It is a wait-and-see moment for coffee farmers, who hope against all odds that the government will, this time, succeed in ensuring their hard work is well compensated.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has pledged an all-out war against cartels who for long have exploited farmers, leaving them with empty pockets.
“The war on coffee reforms is not just a walk in the park. The reforms on the coffee are in earnest. It will take a little more time than tea and milk reforms because, unlike the two, coffee has so much interest, and the entrenchment of cartels is deep. We are kindly asking our farmers to be patient with us because if we have turned around the tea fortunes of the farmers, we will win the war on coffee. It is time to dignify the coffee farmer,” said Mr Gachagua.
The DP accused buyers and millers of using their monopoly of power to sabotage the farmer. “They have blocked the auction so that we can panic and fall for their tricks. We are not relenting. I will look for more markets until we break even. I am now heading to Germany to look for the coffee market, and I can assure you that we aren’t losing on this one,” he affirmed.
Frameworks to support coffee subsector reforms are expected to be ready before the end of the year. If the government succeeds, the reforms will restore the lost glory of the crop and improve the farmer’s life.
These include the implementation of the Meru Coffee Reforms Conference Metrics and Roadmap, Draft Sessional Paper Number One of 2023 on Sustainable Quality Coffee Production for Food Security and Wealth Creation, the Coffee Bill 2023, the Draftf Co-operatives Bill 2023, and the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2020 on the National Co-operative Policy.
Other institutional reforms are reviving the Coffee Board of Kenya and the Coffee Research Institute. This is alongside strengthening the New Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (NEW KPCU).
“I am so confident that we will succeed. We just need to know where the rain began to beat us and trace our steps to see what we were doing when we got it right so we can do something similar or even better to get better results,” said Mr Gachagua.
Farmers are at the center of reforms. They hope that the government succeeds this time. Such reforms have been introduced in the past but yielded nothing.
The government hopes to increase coffee production from the current 50,000 metric tonnes annually to 200,000 metric tonnes within five years. This will only come true if farmers’ pay improves.
The legislative and administrative systems concerning the coffee value chain will be addressed if the reforms are implemented in the letter.
“These reforms are unstoppable and we will not be intimidated. We will push on,” said the Deputy President.
Among the recommendations on the table is an amendment of the Coffee Bill that is pending in Parliament, amending the Co-operatives Act, and streamlining the governance of co-operative societies. Another proposal is an amalgamation of coffee co-operative societies that are not economically viable.
“We must come up with economically viable co-operatives and threshold for election of leaders and officials of the societies. If we do not look at the Co-operative Act, we won’t get anywhere because there are serious governance issues,” noted Mr Gachagua.
Recently, the DP has been scouting for buyers worldwide, leading coffee farmers and stakeholders delegations to Columbia and Germany. In Columbia, he attended the World Coffee Conference.
Kenya will host the Producer Roaster Forum -one of the biggest global events in the subsector calendar – in November 2024 to boost coffee marketing directly to roasters and consumers.
“Those who have been buying our coffee smile to the bank as our farmers cry to the farm. They have blocked farmers from accessing the market. We will connect our farmer to the roasters for better returns,” said Mr Gachagua.
He added that the gap needs to be filled with the elimination of middlemen- between the farmer and the consumer of coffee through the ongoing coffee subsector reforms. He said the Producer and Roaster Forum 2024 is such an opportunity to bring strategic actors closer to the farmer.
“The Producer and Roaster Forum will be a platform for the Roasters and consumers to closely engage the Kenyan Government on possible and favourable tariffs for win-win trade situation. We are opening the doors for the roasters to access the pure and original coffee.”
Kenya is the main exporter of raw beans, and the PRF meeting will bring key actors into the country to explore the avalanche of investment opportunities, including value addition under specialty coffee.
Cabinet Secretary for the Co-operatives & Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Simon Chelugui noted that coffee prices are the greatest challenges that farmers face.
“We want to remove all the middlemen exploiting farmers and scale up vale addition to the international level. We will also do away with prohibitive laws hindering value addition, increase consumption of coffee in the country and support farmers through various incentives such as providing affordable fertilizer,” said Mr Chelugui.
He added they will also partner with county governments to improve agriculture extension services to coffee farmers, which will enhance their capacity to earn more.
