State mulls waiving coffee farmers’ debts
A coffee farmer picks the cherries in Nyeri County.
What you need to know:
- Leaders from Mt Kenya region have been seeking a bailout of coffee farmers.
- Governor Kang'ata said coffee milled at the new factory will be marketed as county product.
The government is looking into ways of waiving the debts owed by coffee factories, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said.
Mr Gachagua said he would meet with National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njunguna Ndung'u and his Co-operatives counterpart Simon Chelugui to agree on the waiver.
"We want to find a solution to the coffee debts," Mr Gachagua said after opening the Ikundu Coffee Milling Factory.
This comes amid a push by Mt Kenya leaders for the government to bail out coffee farmers whose debts are estimated at Sh6 billion just as was done to the sugar sector.
Mr Gachagua, who was accompanied by Mr Chelugui and more than 10 MPs, said the Sh4 billion Coffee Cherry Advance Fund targets all farmers including those not affiliated to the Kenya Planters Co-operatives Union.
Support coffee farmers
The DP said the ongoing reforms in the coffee and tea sectors were bearing fruit, citing the doubling of coffee exports last year.
"We will not relent in our fight against brokers," Mr Gachagua said. He said Murang’a farmers will now be able to cut costs on transport and earn better profits as their harvests will be graded and milled at Ikundu Factory.
"The factory will minimise losses in milling and enable farmers to earn more," he said. On tea, he said growers earned the highest bonus since independence last year and that this year the money will further increase.
Murang'a Governor Irungu Kang'ata said coffee milled at the new factory will be marketed as a county product.
“We gave out land to built the plant and we will support coffee farmers to increase their output and earnings,” he said.
Mr Kang'ata said coffee produced at the factory will be available in supermarkets countrywide in next few months. Already, the county is producing yoghurt called County Fresh.
Plans to tax farmers
Mr Chelugui said Murang'a coffee farmers were the fourth highest earners from the Cherry Advance Fund after Nyeri, Kericho and Kiambu. He said dairy farmers will be paid for their milk deliveries for December, January and February in the next two weeks.
Ikundu Factory CEO Irene Kibochi said the plant has milling capacity of 1.2 tonnes of cherries per hour. The management is seeking to increase this to five tonnes per hour.
"We now have a brokerage licence that enables us take our products directly to the market. This will enable coffee farmers maximise on benefits from the produce," she said.
Gatanga MP Edward Muriu took issue with the government’s plans to tax farmers. His sentiments were echoed byMolo MP Kuria Kimani, who said no section in the Finance Act calls for taxation on agriculture.
Kirinyaga woman rep Jane Njeri and Kiambu Senator Karungo wa Thang’wa lauded Mr Kang’ata for his efforts to revive the Murang’a County Coffee Union mill.
“We need this kind of leadership to take this region to the industrial level,” said Mr Thangwa.
