We will streamline coffee cooperatives and boost production - CS Chelugui

Cooperatives play a key role in coffee production but, over time, the sector has been stagnant and not borne fruit to farmers.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s ‘Kenya’s Gold’ show on Tuesday, Co-operatives and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui said the government is determined to streamline coffee cooperatives hence boosting production.

The CS went ahead to state that the International Cooperative Alliance has ranked Kenya the best in the sector, also noting: “Middle men in the coffee sector are inevitable since they help to achieve the coffee value in terms of pricing, because the problem with coffee is the prices, and once the prices are good farmers will go back to cultivating coffee.”

“Coffee farming is attached to land owning, and just like the Maasai community where parents give livestock to their children, so should the coffee farmers take it upon themselves to give land to their children for them to be involved in coffee farming.”

One way young people can involve themselves in the coffee agriculture value chain, the CS added, is through digital platforms where one can easily buy coffee from the comfort of their homes.

He also stated that for those interested in starting their own coffee shops, the government has removed the USD 1 million (approx. Ksh.148 million) guarantee deposit has been removed so that young people can easily add value to coffee, package them and sell.

To streamline the coffee sector, the ministry has streamlined the single license owned by one institution in a bid to create competition and remove conflict of interest.

“If you are a miller, remain as a miller, you mill coffee and the owner of coffee will identify a marker. We are now shortlisting, we now have three licensed regulators,” the CS said.

“The Capital Markets Authority is licensing the marketers and the county government is licensing the millers and the Agricultural and Food Authority (AFA) is licensing the buyers. The 3 different regulatory bodies will be able to create different regimes of registration and in the process create competition, which is what they want because in competition the true price discovery will be found out.”

According to the AFA directorate, coffee contributes about 1% to the GDP, 8% of the total agricultural export earnings and up to 30% of the total labor force employed in Agriculture.

An estimated 700, 000 families draw their livelihood from coffee earnings and about a million people are involved in the coffee business.