Muchemi Wachira And Muchiri Gitonga
28 October 2008
Nairobi — Some smallholder coffee farmers in Mount Kenya region are selling their produce to brokers at throw away prices raising fears of a further slump in the coffee industry.
The Daily Nation has established that brokers are buying a kilogramme of coffee cherries at between Sh10 to Sh12. Last season, the highest paid farmer from the region pocketed Sh50.05 for every kilogramme of the cherry delivered.
The government has for the last six years been trying to revive the sub-sector after it almost collapsed due to a sharp decline in prices at the world market and failure by farmers to apply good agriculture practices on their farms.
On Tuesday, the Coffee Board of Kenya manager in charge of Mount Kenya West region, Mr Richard Wahome, expressed concern over the illegal sale of coffee saying it will frustrate the Government's efforts to revitalise the industry. It may also shatter hopes of a bumper harvest being anticipated in the 2008/2009 season, Mr Wahome said.
CBK, the industry's regulator, has projected a harvest of 60,000 metric tones of coffee compared to 42,000 metric tones realised last season.
Police in collaboration with CBK officials have embarked on an operation to arrest brokers, buyers and farmers who have offered to sell their produce cheaply.
"Section 17 of the Coffee Act does not allow anyone to buy coffee without a license from the board," Mr Wahome said.
Anyone who is found guilty of the offence, he explained, is liable to a fine of between Sh100,000 to Sh1 million or between two and 10 years imprisonment or both.
"What will a farmer do if he cannot afford Sh200 to employ a farm hand to pick his coffee? He cannot sit and watch his ripe berries going to waste while there is someone offering money to buy the produce," the secretary of Mutheka Farmers Cooperative Society in Nyeri District, Mr Wang'ondu Nduhiu, said.
He blamed coffee fund intermediaries for placing tough conditions on farmers who wished to apply for loans.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Nation. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
