Coffee farmers from 13 cooperative coffee societies in Kandara, Muranga county have decried the delay in disbursement of the Sh. 4 billion cherry fund set aside to cushion coffee farmers from poor prices and the delay in milling of their produce by the New Kenya Planters Coffee Union (New KPCU)
The farmers who held a meeting in Kandara, on Tuesday, noted that the funds which were approved by the cabinet in October 2023 were meant to increase coffee prices from Sh 20 per Kilo to Sh. 80 per kilo through the Coffee Cherry Advance fund that was started in 2019.
The farmers called on the deputy president Rigathi Gachagua to help hasten the disbursement of the funds as he had earlier promised to streamline the sector and bail out coffee farmers
“We want to remind President William Ruto and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua of the promise they made of looking after the welfare of the farmers, this is part of the promise” noted Peter Gikonyo
“Our farmers come to us with questions concerning the Sh 80 per kilo and we do not know what to tell them since we also do not know at what stage the farmer is supposed to receive that money,” he said
The farmers further highlighted the numerous challenges they have experienced since they started delivering their produce at the New KPCU.
“We have experienced a lot of challenges since we started delivering our coffee at the New KPCU, one is a delay in milling and that has occasioned us to have a lot of coffee pending in our stores” noted the forums’ chairman Jacob Njoroge.
They blamed the new KPCU for the delay in milling coffee which is still in their stores urging the union to rectify errors and ensure farmers do not incur further losses.
“We are afraid of delivering more coffee because if the cherry we have in our stores had already been sold we could have been able to pay school fees for our children who are resuming back to school” added Njoroge
The farmers further lamented that the issuing of the sales statement by the New KPCU is not as prompt as it should be and the delivery documents are not system generated as some are hand delivered and it brings in the issue of accountability.
On his part, Peter Kagicu, the chairman of Gakui farmers’ cooperative society underscored the need for the government to ensure the farmers receive enough fertilizer at the right time.
“We want to ask the government to ensure that we get fertilizer at the right time. Last season we needed Nitrogen Phosphate and Potassium (NPK) fertilizer for our coffee but it was not available” he said, adding that in the vast Kandara sub-county, they received only 100 bags of fertilizer that could not serve all the thousands of farmers.
“In April we expect to receive the correct fertilizer for topdressing like our Kirinyaga counterparts who receive the correct and enough fertilizer at the season’s right time” he noted
The farmers also want the government to waive debts that coffee farmers owe cooperative societies.
By Florence Kinyua
