Harvesting Cofee |
The elections are
over. And the focus is now turning to incoming leaders and whether they
will embrace reforms proposed by a team of experts to turn around the
fortunes of the coffee sub-sector.
The proposals,
which were on the way to being implemented, were stopped after the High
Court declared them unlawful following opposition by the Council of
Governors and a group of farmers.
Meru Governor Peter
Munya, who was chairman of the Council of Governors at the time the
case was filed, is among the leaders sent home in the polls. He lost to
Mr Kiraitu Murungi of Jubilee.
The CoG had teamed
up with New Farmers' Association, contending that members of the task
force did not involve all stakeholders when arriving at the resolutions.
"I am prepared to
work with new governors in the 31 coffee growing areas, hoping that they
will support the legal reforms we proposed," Prof Joseph Kieyah, who
chaired the task force, told Sunday Nation on Friday.
During the
telephone interview, Prof Kieyah admitted that he found it difficult to
work with some governors, adding that reforms cannot be successfully
implemented without their support.
County governments
play a major role in the agriculture sector, which is devolved, and
farmers have been banking their hopes on the units to realise better
returns for their harvests.
The proposed legal
reforms were aimed at improving production for small-holder farmers and
enabling them to access credit facilities.
They were also meant to make millers and marketing agents more accountable to farmers.
Restructuring co-operative societies, which growers use to market their coffee, is also part of the reforms.
Another proposal by
the task force was to set aside Sh200 million to brand and promote
Kenyan coffee locally and internationally.
Some governors were keen on supporting small-holder farmers in improving their production and remuneration.
In Nyeri, then
Governor Nderitu Gachagua (deceased) had come up with an ambitious
marketing programme for small-scale farmers where they were supposed to
market their crop directly to overseas consumers.
But the initiative came a cropper, making producers incur heavy losses. Mr Gachagua pointed fingers at coffee cartels.
As a management
official of Rumukia Co-operative Society in Mukurwe-ini sub-county, Mr
Wanyaga Mutahi, explains, farmers have never recovered the losses that
saw most societies incur huge debts.
"Some co-operative
societies are heavily indebted. That is why you see farmers selling
their coffee to brokers. If this problem is not addressed, we may not
have coffee in some of these areas in the next two years," Mr Mutahi
said.
Experts have been
urging farmers to improve the volume and quality of their beans so as to
fetch good prices in the world market.
Recently, Murang'a Governor Mwangi wa Iria initiated a pilot project intended to improve production of the cash crop.
In the project, the
county government is providing selected growers various inputs, besides
training them on good agriculture practices. Some 80,000 farmers have
volunteered to take part before the programme is rolled out in the
county.
On Friday, Prof
Kieyah said he was sure most of the new governors had shown willingness
to support the proposed coffee regulations.
"We can use coffee as an anchor for rural development," he said.
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