Coffee farmers will now be able to get their coffee cherry fund advances processed within three days of applying, Co-operatives CS Simon Chelugui has said.
Chelugui said the money will be disbursed to all farmers through their banks and mobile phones irrespective of where they mill their coffee. The New Kenya Planters’ Co-operative union has only been tasked with disbursing the cherry fund but will not compel farmers to mill their coffee with it, he added.
The CS, who spoke at a Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund (CCARF) meeting at Kairuri in Embu County last evening also said the fund is among reforms meant to return profitability and certainty to the coffee subsector and will be administered by the New Kenya Planters Co-operative Union.
He also said the Sh 80 paid as the advance will also serve as a guaranteed minimum earning from every kilo of cherry, saying the government will underwrite any difference should the price at auction fall below the Sh 80. He also said money earned above the Sh 80 will be paid to farmers as bonuses.
Embu leaders that included Governor Cecily Mbarire, Senator Alexander Mundigi, and Members of Parliament Njoki Njeru, Mucangi Karemba, and Gitonga Mukunji welcomed the establishment of the fund but said it should be raised to between Sh 100 and Sh.120.
Chelugui said the government was committed to reducing the number of players in the coffee value chain up to the Nairobi Coffee Exchange from the previous 27 players to seven to reduce those taking commissions off farmers’ earnings.
Governor Mbarire asked the government to help the county’s cooperatives have their debts written off including the Sh 90 million loan taken by the County Coffee mill that had grown to Sh 164 million.
She said her government will soon launch a campaign to convince co-operatives to merge to minimize their overheads.
She said it was regrettable that the once mighty District Co-operative Union had fragmented into many tiny co-operatives, some with as few as one pulping factory which made them lose their economies of scale.
She urged the county’s farmers to stop selling their cherry at the farm gate, saying a lot of the county’s coffee was being sold to brokers in neighboring counties.
She added that they plan to have cooperatives and estate farmers elect new representatives to the county’s coffee marketing agency.
Runyenjes MP Karemba asked the government to rethink the proposed new taxes on farm produce including cows and chicken.
By Steve Gatheru
