Arabica coffee cherries delivered to a collection centre. Uganda, which
developed it coffee policy four years ago is now doing better than
Kenya. PHOTO FILE | NATION
A plan by the Kenyan government to put in place a policy to
guide the coffee sub-sector into full recovery remains in limbo due to a
delay by stakeholders endorsing the proposals.
The
reforms, designed to empower farmers to improve production were
developed last year by a presidential task force. The taskforce gazetted
the rules before a group of farmers, supported by the Council of
Governors (CoG), moved to the High Court to stop their implementation.
They
argued that the regulations had not been subjected to public
participation and the court subsequently declared the rules
unconstitutional and issued an order stopping their implementation.
The
government has since accused the CoG, which is a convention of
Governors in all 47 counties, of teaming up with cartels to sabotage its
efforts to revive the ailing sub-sector.
“We have
several actors using the name of the farmer to delay reforms in the
coffee industry,” Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, Willy Bett who is
required to start developing the industry’s policy after endorsement of
the proposed regulations, told a stakeholders meeting in Nairobi last
month.
The government through the Agriculture Foods Authority, the industry regulator had convened the meeting.
Mr Bett told the participants who included officials of farmers’
saccos, millers, marketing agents, dealers and owners of coffee estates
that they had been given 30 days by the court to consult before
gazetting the regulations.
He said that he was prepared
to sign the policy document but a group of Sacco officials called for
deletion of sections they said were detrimental to the growth of the
industry.
The coffee policy as stipulated in the
proposed reforms aims to improve the marketing practices of Kenyan
coffee, which would be certified and labelled for traceability.
Question of collusion
As the meeting noted, Uganda, which developed it coffee policy four years ago is now doing better than Kenya.
With
establishment of the Uganda Coffee Authority, which deals with export
and quality control, coffee has become the most important agricultural
commodity and major foreign exchange earner for Uganda.
And though Uganda has been exporting more coffee than Kenya, the latter produces premium beans that are in high demand globally.
Currently, Kenyan coffee is blended with beans from other parts of the world, making its traceability difficult.
Most
of the coffee grown in Uganda is Robusta, and is produced in bulk
unlike the Arabica grown in Kenya. Arabica is of high quality and more
expensive to produce.
Kenyan farmers have often accused
their government of lacking the political goodwill to restructure the
subsector and forcing several growers to uproot their coffee trees in
favour of other crops.
The growers have no control over
marketing of their coffee. After harvesting and delivering the red
cherries to factories or wet mills, the farmer has no control over his
crop.
All the work is done by farmers’ Saccos. These
societies are registered by the government that also licenses commercial
millers and marketing agents.
Some Sacco officials are known to collude with millers and marketers to steal from the growers.
In
the marketing process, there are several other players. Cartels have
also invaded it, reducing efficiency throughout the coffee chain.
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