By Roy Hezron
The government is planning to inject over Sh20 billion to revive the country’s coffee sector for the next four years.
The biggest beneficiaries of revitalisation plan will be farmers in the Coffee Cooperatives.
The revitalisation project which was launched in April 2020 by the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives Peter Munya is meant to revive the coffee industry in the country in order to alleviate poverty in the coffee growing areas and provide a reliable source of livelihoods among coffee growers.
The project will be implemented in the 31 coffee growing counties which include Baringo, Bomet, Bungoma, Busia, Elgeiyo-Marakwet, Embu, Homa-Bay, Kakamega, Kericho, Kirinyaga, Kisii, Kisumu, Laikipia and Machakos.
Others are Makueni, Marsabit, Meru, Migori, Murang’a, Nakuru, Nandi, Nyamira, Nyeri, Siaya, Taita-Taveta, Tharaka-Nithi, Trans-Nzoia, Uasin-Gishu, Vihiga and West-Pokot.
The revitalisation project which will cost the government around Sh21.3 billion is currently being implemented in collaboration with the World Bank (WB), under the ongoing WB projects, namely the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NAGRIP) and the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP).
The governments’ initiative come as the country had challenges and experiencing a steady decline of coffee production from 130,000 Metric tonnes of clean coffee to an average of 40,000 metric tonnes.
Smallholders Coffee Producers
Majority of the producers are smallholders who own less than five (5) acres where they plant their coffee and sell their product through cooperative societies, and they account for 60 per cent of the national coffee production.
Those owning above five (5) acres of land who are referred to us estates or small, medium and large scale farmers sell their coffee product directly through their marketing agent, and they account for 40 per cent of the national coffee production.
Kenya has an estimated 700,000 small holder growers who market their product through 525 Cooperative Societies whereby each Cooperative owns and manages one or more wet-processing factories known us primary processing.
There are over 4, 000 wet processing plants which includes 3, 300 Smallholders estate farmers and 1,000 Coffee Cooperatives pulping station where coffee is pulped, grade, washed and dried.
Strengthening governance in Coffee Cooperatives
For the next four years, the government plan to invest over 420 Million to strengthen governance and capacity in Coffee Cooperatives.
This is expected to be achieved through issuing guidelines on mandatory cooperative governance structures in all registered cooperatives, and issue guidelines on key management tools notably budget, and audited accounts.
Others will include procurement, terms and conditions of service, business and strategic plan; and developing and reviewing new and existing guidelines on accountability and enforcement of the code of Ethics and Conduct for cooperative officials.
In addition, the project will further support enhancement of technical and leadership capacity among cooperative leaders to mitigate against identified weaknesses that have been witnessed in the coffee cooperatives in the recent past.
Over Sh26 million is expected to be injected in the Cooperative sector to specifically strengthen the cooperative’s governance, while over Sh400 million will specifically revive capacity enhancement in the coffee cooperative sector.
The State Department for Cooperatives (SDC) will develop and hold Training of Trainers course on the induction of new leaders.
On the other hand, over Sh600 million is expected to be pumped into the coffee sector to automate and digitize coffee cooperatives, in order to remove human interference in most coffee operations, enhance accountability and attract youth to participate in the coffee industry.
In achieving this, Coffee Management Information Software (CMIS) will be designed and developed for all primary processing cooperatives and the same for secondary processing cooperatives (dry mills).
Equipment’s such as computer hardwires, printers, digital weighing scales and accessories will be procured and distributed to coffee factories, and staff identified to operate the equipment’s being trained on the operation and use of the software to ensure their effective use.
In addition, over Sh3 billion will be meant to equip and refurbish cooperative growers’ secondary coffee mills which will also be modernized and or upgraded to the required standards, which will include machines for roasting, packing and color sorting
Also to be automated in the secondary coffee mills is record keeping by using Information Communication Technology (ICT), hence need to supply all grower coffee mills with computer hardware’s and software’s linked to the coffee industry database.
Middlemen and brokers have been cited as a stumbling block to the sourcing of better prices and international markets for the products due to the lack of transparency and accountability in the trade.
In financing and supporting coffee cooperatives, over Sh3 billion will be invested for the next four years which will include over Sh1 billion and over Sh2 billion on establishing of coffee revolving funds and Cherry Advance Funds respectively.
This is basically meant to support the smallholder farmers’ cash flow constraints and their ability to finance farm operations and their livelihoods.
However, the Ministry is considering expanding the Sh3 billion coffee cherry funds to offer additional services in the sector following a slow uptake by farmers.
In April this year, CS Munya said even though the fund was meant for loaning, it is sufficiently large and can be utilized for other activities within the sector.
The announcement followed after revelations that only Sh300 million from the cherry fund has been disbursed since it was introduced a year ago.
The cherry advance levy was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2019 and is aimed at helping farmers meet financial obligations after harvesting crop in order to minimize the time that it takes for growers to get their earnings from their co-operative societies.
