Murang'a seek new markets for farm produce in China, US

Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata is set to take top leaders of the avocado, coffee and tea sectors to a global tour to seek extra markets for the produce.

He said the visit to the United States and China will commence in the next two weeks with the objective of exposing local products to new markets.

Addressing coffee farmers at Ihura stadium, he said the three crops are the main cash crops in the county, with thousands of residents depending on them.

“Already, farmers have nominated who they want to represent them in this tour,” the governor said.

He said China, with a population of 1.4 billion, is the second-most populous nation globally and has recently started adopting the coffee-taking culture.

The high population, he said, may turn the country into one of the biggest coffee markets if the culture takes hold.

“This is why we want to position ourselves as Murang’a early enough to take advantage of this new market before the rest,” he said.

The current main markets for local coffee include Belgium, the United States, Germany, South Korea and Sweden, most of which buy the commodity through the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.

Kang’ata said several interventions undertaken by his administration in partnership with the national government have seen coffee payments rise in the last few years.

A few years ago, the governor said, Murang’a lagged behind Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Kiambu and Bomet in payments, but it has since risen to second position behind only Kirinyaga.

The county has also been leading in the tea sector and raked in Sh17 billion in revenue last year, while producing 33 per cent of the avocados exported from the country.

In the US, the team will hold meetings in Boston and Washington DC.

After the trip, the county will then hold an investment conference to bring together manufacturers and processors to showcase the opportunities available in the county and unlock the county as an industrial hub.

“This conference will be held in June. We expect it to be attended by those engaged in value-addition of the various agricultural produces,” Kang'ata said.

The governor urged farmers to increase their production to earn more money from the efforts being put in place by both levels of governments to support them.

The county has an avocado farmers association that brings farmers together, while the tea sector is managed by tea factories that contract KTDA as their management agency.

The coffee sector is led through coffee co-operative societies.