Farmers have welcomed the gradual increase in coffee deliveries to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) amid the standoff between the government and coffee cartels.
The increased deliveries come at a time when coffee management regulations reforms have caused a near stagnation of the auction and exports.
The slow movement is partly blamed on the demand by governors in coffee-growing areas that regions devise their own local and international coffee marketing packages, which led to the suspension of cartels, affecting export programmes.
Embu governor Cecily Mbarire has in the recent past insisted that coffee prices offered by powerful cartels, who earn more than farmers, has remained low and discouraging to farmers.
However, data accessed from the NCE by Sacco Review showed that there are more than 11,300 bags valued at more than Ksh42 in the latest deliveries, a clear indication of improving coffee production at the grassroots.
Improved deliveries brought excitement among the farmers, especially in Embu County, because compared to the previous supplies, they were more than three times higher than the 3,930 bags, whose estimated value was Ksh134.79 under the previous delivery.
Despite efforts to liberalize coffee export, with individual counties and even Saccos seeking to establish individual direct export markets, penetration of rigid markets controlled by cartels has been slow.
Better opportunities to deliver beans to the NCE come as a relief to farmers because in the last four months, coffee beans have remained in cooperatives’ stores.
By Robert Nyagah
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