Starbucks will soon start buying coffee directly from Kenya - DP Gachagua

This he said on Sunday during a church service in Nyeri county, where he spoke of a deliberate plan to revamp the coffee sector in the nation and benefit farmers as well as cure the ailing economy.

Gachagua stated that for the longest time, Kenya has been trading its coffee to Europe through brokers yet America, who are bigger coffee consumers in his view, have a ready market for the product.

"I thank the President; he spoke with ambassador Meg Whitman and she has planned coffee buyers in America called Starbucks to come here and meet the president and me so that they be buying our coffee directly," he said. 

"The people who buy our coffee are not Americans it is bought by people in Europe. And even there is one country that sells the most coffee in the world yet they have no single coffee plant. They are just brokers now we want to remove them."

The second-in-command further stated that by getting rid of the brokers, Kenya will be able to achieve a permanent and seamless deal with the U.S. which might even see a lifetime export of coffee to the western powerhouse.  

"The people who consume the coffee are in America and they love our coffee. We have told them that they should come and take our coffee in its original form and trust me they will be buying our coffee forever," said Gachagua.

Gachagua vowed to ensure that there will be effective reforms in the coffee sector with the aid of a budgetary allocation of Ksh.7 billion which will benefit farmers and the ready markets.

In October, the Cabinet approved an additional Ksh.4 billion for coffee farmers from the Ksh.3 billion released earlier which will see farmers now earning Ksh.80 a kilogramme of cherry from the current Ksh.20 a kilogramme as an advance payment.

The government also vowed to deliberately search for better markets for farmers by inviting world-renowned coffee dealers.