The Kenyan government will launch a coffee sector reform initiative, as Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua promised on Sunday, to address the numerous problems that have long dogged the once-thriving coffee industry as powerful coffee cartels and brokers have exploited coffee farmers, leading to their precarious situation.
These cartels have banded together, resorting to all means, including spreading propaganda. They are trying to create an artificial crisis. That is because of changes made in the policy people have refused to buy coffee and that is pure lies. They want to force us to sell it to them.
The Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU)’s reinstatement is a crucial reform since it will help farmers efficiently mill their crops and lower milling-related losses, according to the DP, which stressed the necessity for measures to revitalize the cooperative movement.
A conference of coffee stakeholders was already held in Meru County earlier this year to discuss the issues farmers were having with cartels that were profiting through unethical means and had infiltrated the entire coffee chain, putting smallholder farmers in financial difficulty. The government is taking action to dismantle the cartels intimidating farmers since more than 700,000 farmers and five million Kenyans rely on the coffee industry for their livelihoods.
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. These private millers are benefiting unfairly on three fronts. They take the coffee and claim 35 per cent is millage losses and you were not there to see. Secondly, they falsely grade coffee, and thirdly, they give poor prices of coffee selling it at one price, all while our world-renowned beans command premium prices in international markets. I want to urge coffee farmers to be patient with me.
The deputy further stated that by getting rid of the brokers, Kenya will be able to achieve a permanent and seamless deal with the U.S., multinational coffeehouse Starbucks start sourcing their coffee directly from Kenya that might even see a lifetime export of coffee to the western powerhouse.
New signed deal in Belgium
The Java Coffee Company, one of the biggest coffee companies in the world, has agreed to buy directly from Kenyan local coffee farmers. The company and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua signed an agreement in Rotselaar, Belgium. In exchange for the agreement, the Java Coffee Company promised to begin by buying 700 tonnes of coffee, which will increase the incomes of small-scale growers.
A win for Kenyan coffee farmers
The government has now opened the coffee auction’s direct market, both local and international, so that Kenyan farmers can get the best prices for their products. Kenyan farmers can now get the very best price that not only the national market but also the international market can offer. Direct sales of coffee to the US, Germany, and other lucrative markets have now been linked by farmers to buyers for better returns.