NYERI, Kenya, Apr 26 – Coffee farmers in Nyeri and Kirinyaga Counties will receive payments next week, according to an official from the ministry of agriculture in Nyeri County.
Nyeri County Executive in charge of agriculture James Wachihi says pay will, however, be dependent on the quality of coffee and the cooperative society involved.
Among the societies that have released their payments rates are Barichu, Gikanda and Kibirigwi.
At Gikanda, farmers from Kangocho factory will receive Sh90 per kilo of cherry, Gichathaini factory Sh80 while those from Ndaroini will receive Sh100.
At Barichu farmers those from Karindundu factory will receive Sh83, Gatururi Sh80, Gatomboya Sh81 and Karatina Sh80.
“We are yet to know how much low performing societies will pay their farmers. However, we expect improvement” said Wachihi.
This comes at a time when the government has announced that it will pump more than Sh1.5 billion towards improvement of production of the crop which has plummeted to all time low of 40 metric tones annually.
Speaking during the launch of the program funded by world bank minister for agriculture Peter Munya said that eight counties which account for the seventy percent of coffee production will benefit.
President Uhuru Kenyatta last year appointed a taskforce to investigate ways of improving coffee sector following poor production which in the eighties hit all time high of 140 metric tonnes.
Among the issues farmers highlighted as the stumbling block in the coffee industry is collusion between brokers and buyers that deny them good payment over the years.
Several farmers have been uprooting their bushes and replacing them with nappier grass for dairy animal production after finding the crop unstainable.
This has led to collapse of societies in Nyeri and other counties with high ramification to the economy.
However, with the new move by the government crop production could improve if the government moves fast.
