• The farmers want DP Rigathi Gachagua to help streamline the sector's operations
• They vowed to keep uprooting the crop, saying it cannot meet their families' needs
Image: Alice Waithera
Farmers from Mathioya subcounty, Murang’a county, have started uprooting their coffee bushes over poor management of their co-operative society.
The farmers from Kamacharia coffee co-operative society say they have been grappling with mismanagement for years and have resolved to venture into other more beneficial crops.
The society comprises Kiberu, Wahundura, Karugiro and Kagumo-ini factories.
They have complained that the leadership has been engaging in wanton corruption and punishing farmers who dare speak out.
Robert Mugo is one of 11 farmers who were discontinued from selling coffee through the society for questioning the way it is run.
The farmers had to go to court to be allowed to sell their produce through the society but even then, they are unable to access vital services, such as farm inputs and credit, that other farmers get.
“All this started because we questioned the society’s financial statements and wanted to find out how the money deducted from farmers was being utilised,” he said.
Image: Alice Waithera
He said several visits to the local co-operatives' offices have not borne fruits, and that the farmers have been at the mercy of the co-operative society’s leadership.
After struggling to sustain his coffee farm devoid of his society’s support, Mugo has finally had enough and wants to do away with the crop.
He said the government should intervene or else the society will collapse.
“We want Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to come in person and help resolve this issue of poor management,” he said.
“Farmers who have been selling their coffee through this society for decades cannot raise enough money to support their families.”
Mugo said he now plans to venture into horticultural farming, which he said will be more beneficial to him economically.
But should the society be streamlined, he said, he will replant the crops on a larger scale, saying it has shown its capability to fetch good prices.
Another farmer, Peter Kariuki, said they have been in a tug-of-war for years with the management of the society.
Image: Alice Waithera
In February, the management called farmers for a meeting and presented a balance sheet that was disputed by many.
“They just do what they want and we have been unable to do anything about it for a long time, but now we are taking another step,” he said.
David Mwangi said most of the society’s operations are conducted through single-sourcing and without involving farmers.
The society even started coffee nurseries and sold the seedlings without consulting farmers, he said.
“We just saw people buying the seedlings. Now we have decided that there is no more need to continue investing in something that is not beneficial.”
Mwangi recently wrote to the society to have his membership terminated, explaining that without getting access to farm inputs such as fertilisers, the farm becomes hectic to manage.
Monicah Wachira said the mismanagement of the society puts farmers at a disadvantage and eats into their earnings.
“Let the government put its focus on Kamacharia society because the way it is being managed will not take us anywhere,” she said.
“If we don’t get help, we will continue uprooting coffee and making better use of our farms.”
The Deputy President has vowed to lead an onslaught against cartels in the tea and coffee sectors that take advantage of farmers and reduced their returns.
During the Coffee Conference held in Meru in April, Rigathi said farmers have been exploited for a long time.
He pledged to accelerate reforms in the sector after farmers identified cartels as their biggest hindrance to good returns.