Governor Wamatangi Devises New Methods to Revive Coffee Sector

Kiambu county government has devised new ways to revive the ailing coffee sector.

On Wednesday, Kimani Wamatangi’s administration partnered with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in efforts to create a Kiambu county coffee brand by the end of 2023, with a target on foreign markets.

Wamatangi said that the launch of the project dubbed- Action to Re-Launch Agriculture and Branding Internationalization of Kenyan Coffee, in and out of Africa (ARABIKA) involves revitalizing coffee farming.

He said that the County would enhance support to coffee farmers to improve quality and yields through training and value addition and ensure better incomes.

Wamatangi further said that the program’s emphasis is on youth and women, alongside increasing returns to primary coffee producers and boosting the county’s economy.

“Together with my team in the agriculture department, hosted a delegation from the agency led by its head Giovanni Grandi, Giulio di Pinto international relations officer, and Kenya project manager Alberto Moia. Also present were County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture Joseph Kamau, and Chief Officers David Kamundia and John Kuria, “Wamatangi said.

The meeting between the County government and partners comes as a wake-up call, seeing that statistics show that Kenyan coffee production for the 2019-2020 financial year dropped to 650,000 bags.

About a month ago, the Kiambu governor announced a plan to establish a County research institute a devised new ways to revive the ailing agricultural sector.

Mr. Wamatangi said most farmers are uprooting coffee to venture into other sectors such as real estate due to poor prices; a situation which has also befallen tea farmers.

“Something needs to be done to save the situation because coffee farmers are getting a raw deal. Marketing has continued to be the major issue due to middlemen and cartels, which exploit farmers but if the Government would help source the market, we will save the situation,” Wamatangi said.

The national government has also announced that it will establish a coffee research institution, as a measure to revive coffee farming and production in the country amidst dwindling fortunes.

About a year ago, Coffee farmers in Kiambu, Githunguri, and Komothai uprooted their coffee trees to protest poor earnings.

The farmers complained that Sh14 per kilo was not enough reward for the hard work they put in tending to their crop, adding that even the meager payments are delayed for too long yet they have bills to pay.

They argued that the cost of producing one kilo of coffee was approximately Sh35; hence the Sh14 paid even after processing was an insult to their sweat.