A coffee farmer in Nyeri. FILE PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Governors are pushing for control of the billions of shillings
paid by coffee farmers for research in a drive to revive the ailing
sector.
The Council of Governors wants four out of the
six per cent paid as levies to go to counties, with the remaining two
per cent paid to other coffee agencies.
The county
bosses are proposing that a levy paid to the Coffee Research Foundation
be used to set up a coffee development fund, instead. Farmers would then
borrow from the fund to buy inputs.
The chairman of
the council’s Committee on Agriculture and Lands, Mr Nderitu Gachagua,
met Agriculture ministry officials in Nairobi on Thursday to discuss the
radical proposals.
Mr Gachagua suggested that three
per cent of the levies be left at the county level; one per cent for the
improvement of roads in coffee-growing areas; one per cent for the
development fund; and one per cent for the Agriculture, Fisheries and
Food Authority.
“The money paid as a research levy
should be used to set up a coffee development fund, from which farmers
can borrow cash for buying inputs,” said Mr Gachagua, who is also the
governor for Nyeri.
Mr Gachagua said there are plans to ease the levy burden on farmers in all the coffee-growing zones in the country.
REFORMS
At the same time, the Nyeri county government wants to be in control of coffee milling and marketing.
A
meeting between Mr Gachagua and representatives of coffee farmers held
at the Wambugu Agricultural Training Centre on Wednesday approved plans
by the regional government to come up with reforms targeting the milling
and marketing of Nyeri coffee.
The reforms are
expected to set the minimum deductions that can be made by coffee
societies from farmers, and provide guidelines in the issuing of milling
and marketing licences to interested companies.
“If
you want to get a licence to mill and market coffee in Nyeri, you have
to meet certain conditions, which we are working on,” said the governor.
At
the same time, the Trans Nzoia county government said it is committed
to boosting coffee production in the region in a bid to cushion farmers
from dwindling maize prices.
Farmers in Kitale said the price of maize had been destabilised owing to flooding of the market with cheap grain from Uganda.
Trans
Nzoia Governor Patrick Khaemba said his administration had set up a
fund to ensure enough coffee seedlings are available to farmers who want
to venture into the sector.
The growers will buy the seedlings at subsidised prices.
Mr
Khaemba said studies had shown that the region’s soils are ideal for
the Batian and Ruiru 11 coffee varieties, which are highly resistant to
diseases.
“We want to have more farmers venture into coffee farming,” he said.
Additional reporting by Philip Bwayo
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