Kenya is exchanging lessons and tap into its experience and success as a top global producer of high quality and premium coffee flavors with Colombia.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Thursday said the knowledge exchange on coffee farming and research on the crop with the the second largest coffee producer in Latin America continues to take shape, even as Kenya seeks to get into collaboration with it in the coming days.
“We have a lot to learn from our partners, including lessons for our vibrant cooperative movement,” Gachagua said on Thursday when he hosted a delegation from Colombia members of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, who were in Kenya for a five-day peer-to-peer review.
Colombia is the third-largest coffee producer in the world by volume, behind Brazil and Vietnam.
The coffee farmers and researchers from Colombia on Tuesday toured Nyeri County for a meeting with over 200 local growers drawn from various parts of the country. There, the delegation toured coffee farms, the Gikanda Farmers Cooperative Society and Gichatha-ini coffee factory to familiarize themselves with the Kenyan coffee industry.
The tour is a follow-up to Gachagua’s visit to Colombia last September, where he pushed for cooperation between the two states to increase coffee produce and better earnings for Kenyan coffee farmers.
Among those who attended the meeting with the DP included Cooperatives and MSMEs Development CS Simon Chelugui, Colombia Ambassador to Kenya Pedro Leon Cortes Ruiz, National Assembly Committee on Agriculture and Livestock Chairman Dr. John Mutunga, and other stakeholders in the Coffee sub-sector.
COFFEE REFORMS
DP Gachagua has been assigned to lead reforms in the agriculture sector, focusing on coffee, tea and milk, among other farm produce.
From the meetings in the five days, coffee farmers say they have renewed hope for increased production and earnings following government’s partnership with Colombia and reforms in the sector.
National Coffee Corporate of Kenya chairman Francis Ngone said reforms spearheaded by DP Gachagua will benefit farmers and increase country’s foreign income.
Speaking during the visit by the delegation to the Coffee Research Institute in Kiambu county, Ngone said the war against cartels in the sector is almost bearing fruits, and that the exchange programme will benefit farmers with expertise on better farming practices and open up more markets.
“We are working on strengthening marketing strategies for our coffee in the ongoing reforms,” he said.
Kiambu Brokerage Company chairman David Njoroge said farmers are hopeful that upon full implementation of the reforms, the Sh80 minimum returns per kilogramme of coffee, will increase to about Sh150, while CRI Director Dr. Elijah Gichuru said the partnership with Colombian researchers will facilitate introduction of new coffee varieties and fight pests and diseases.
It will also introduce technology to promote coffee farming amid climate change, he said, while CS Chelugui and Ambassador Ruib noted that the discussions will boost the two nations’ ties.
National Coffee Directorate data indicates that in the 2022-23 season, Kenya exported 47,861 tonnes of coffee at Sh36.6 billion.
