Vpps
25 October 2008
Nairobi — The coffee industry is to benefit from a Sh500 million grant from the European Union.
The money is to be used to revitalise the struggling sector, Vice-President said, adding that about Sh117 million will go into making the coffee cooperatives and unions more professional, Sh103 million into marketing and Sh194 million into research.
Mr Musyoka urged the youth to go into commercial farming to raise their living standards and reduce unemployment.
The youth, he noted, shy away from agriculture and leave it to the elderly who cannot grasp modern technology.
The VP said farming, which he called Kenya's the backbone of Kenya's economy, will collapse unless more youths take it up.
He said agriculture plays a vital role of improving people's lives, adding that most Kenyans in the rural areas derive their livelihoods from farming and related activities.
The VP was speaking at the Coffee Research Foundation of Ruiru, Thika district, during the launch of the Quality Coffee Production and Commercialisation Support Programme. He was the chief guest.
The project, an effort of the Government and the EC, aims at stopping the decline in coffee production, quality and marketing.
It brings together experts from the ministries of Agriculture as well as Cooperative Development and Marketing, the Coffee Research Foundation, Coffee Board of Kenya and the Kenya Coffee Producers and Traders Association.
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