By Peter Otuoro
Stakeholders in the cooperative movement aired the major challenges facing the movement to the new government through the new Cooperatives & MSMEs CS Simon Chelugui and PS Patrick Kilemi.
Speaking during a consultative meeting on the realignment of cooperative and Saccos activities held by the Cooperative Alliance of Kenya at Sawela hotel in Naivasha, National Cooperative Housing Union (NACHU) National Chairman Francis Kamande lamented about the few housing units in the country.
He revealed that Kenyan urban centres need about 2,500,000 housing units but there are only 500,000 housing units.
“We have a shortage of 2,000,000 housing stocks in urban areas. The huge deficit has led to the creation of many slums in urban areas,” he pointed out.
Kamande urged the government to intervene to enable Kenyans living in urban areas have good houses to live in.
“Current statistics from World Bank Report shows that 90 per cent of houses in Kenyan urban and rural areas have been provided by the cooperative societies,” he said, further urging the government to use cooperative societies to build housing units in urban areas.
He thanked President William Ruto for appointing Chelugui as CS, adding that he is familiar with cooperative affairs and is best suited to lead the ministry.
National Coffee Cooperative Union (NACCU) Chairman Francis Ngone explained that their biggest problem is being denied entry into Nairobi Coffee Exchange an urged the government to help them so as to improve their status.
He went on to explain the achievements of the coffee sector in the development of the country’s economy.
Ngone said NACCU is the apex body representing all coffee unions in Kenya and that it has been spearheading coffee reform agenda since 2016.
“We currently have 31 coffee unions in Kipkelion, Baringo, Gusii, Meru, Muranga , Tharaka , Machakos , Nandi ,Uasin Gishu among others,” he said.
He added that their unions are well structured and are prepared to help the Cooperative Ministry to reach all its members.
Kenya Cooperative of Coffee Exporter (KCCE) Director Julius Riungu said that there is a big decline in the quantity of coffee being produced.
“Most farmers are aged people who cannot cope with the current topical coffee production and marketing,” he said.
He requested the government to reinforce smart agriculture to all coffee growers in Kenya to cope with the impact of climate change which is affecting the whole world.
Riungu also urged the government to increase investment in coffee research to enable farmers to improve quality coffee production and to facilitate farmers with farm input.
Coffee is one of Kenya’s major cash crops, contributing over Ksh 27 billion in the country.
He added that coffee directly impacts 700,000 small holder farmers in Kenya.
Riungu said KCCE was founded in 2009 and is mandated to promote, organize and undertake value addition of coffee in local and export market.
“We’re also mandated to promote the social and economic standards of all coffee farmers in the country,” he said, adding that the association has 74 shareholders and 73 coffee societies from 31 coffee producing counties in Kenya.
He said that they also have two subsidiaries: Kenya Cooperative Coffee Dealers (KCCD) mandated with the role of value addition and Kenya Cooperative Coffee Millers (KCCM) mandated to mill coffee from farmers.
Riungu noted that the association also identifies the needs of coffee growers and tries to ensure they get the best possible price for the produce.
“Over the last 13 years, we have influenced the increase of prices from Ksh25 per kilogram to current Ksh.137 per kilogram,” he said.
The tea cooperative society was represented by Yetu Sacco CEO Denis Mwiti Kirimi who said that most tea farmers have debts which make them not enjoy the fruits of their hard work.
He added that tea contributes to 43 per cent of the country’s GDP hence the government needs to urgently intervene to rescue thousands of tea farmers who are currently suffering.
Ambassador Joshua Terer urged the government to commercialize tea in order to reduce the cost of production and increase the quality of tea being produced.
“The cost of producing tea is too expensive hence the government needs to rethink on the manual way of picking tea and introduce machines to help in the same,” he said.
Chairman of Kiambu County Dairy Farmers Association Peter Mwangi spoke on behalf of all Diary Cooperative societies in Kenya.
Mwangi revealed that over the recent years, the amount of litres of milk being produced has reduced to as low as 2.5 million litres per day.
He urged President Ruto to intervene in order to rescue dairy farming in the country.
“If given the necessary attention, dairy farming is able to put good money into the hands of both young and old Kenyans,” he said.
He lamented that they do not have a viable market for their produce since a lot of milk in the country is imported.
Mwangi also lamented that the animal feeds being sold to farmers are of low quality yet they are very expensive.
“A bag is sold at Ksh 1950, an amount too high for farmers,” he noted and requested the CS to ensure subsidized fertilizers are channeled through cooperatives to enable all Kenyans to access them easily.
The chair also requested the government to reclaim all lands in Kenya meant for cattle majority of which are idle and to conduct regular animal immunization programmes countrywide to curb diseases affecting dairy animals like foot and mouth and anthrax among others.
Mwangi also urged the government to ensure the Dairy farmers are directly represented in the Kenya Dairy Board so that their needs and concerns are addressed.
“The CAK should also facilitate the Dairy Sector Federation to push the agenda and affairs of dairy farmers in Kenya,” he said.
Mwangi also urged Chelugui to ensure his ministry has annual evaluation, monitoring and follow-up events to enhance continued development in the dairy industry.
Stima Sacco CEO Dr Gamaliel Hassan represented the financial Saccos.
He said that despite major milestones made by financial Saccos in Kenya, there are various challenges the Saccos face amongst them, being the inability to involve in foreign exchanges, not being allowed to access regional and national payment systems.
He told Chelugui and the Treasury CS Prof Njuguna Ndung’u to intervene and solve their problems.
He added that despite the fact that Saccos should open branches in other Eastern African countries like South Sudan, Tanzania, DRC, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, there is a big legal block that stops them from doing so.
“If we expand our activities, the main beneficiary will be the government who will receive taxes. We will also be able to create employment to many Kenyans who will get work in the branches in the East African countries,” he said.
Chairman of Kenversity Sacco Prof. George Makokha said most university based Saccos are slowly dying.
He gave an example of Moi University Sacco and Credit Cooperative (MUSCO) which is faced with liquidity problems and urged the government to urgently intervene and save such Saccos.
Cooperative Alliance of Kenya Chairman Macloud Malonza promised to present to the government, through Cooperative CS Simon Chelugui, all challenges facing cooperative societies in Kenya and to look for possible solutions to address those challenges.
