- Gachagua said the revival of the sector was on course.
- He added that the Kenya Coffee Research Foundation will be revamped to ramp up efforts to make coffee farming profitable again.
Image: DPCS
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has appealed to the Colombia National Coffee Federation to collaborate with Kenyan farmers to improve yields and returns.
Gachagua said Kenya had a lot to learn from the South American nation as it seeks to revive the sector.
"We would like you to help us as we bring back the Coffee Research Foundation as we borrow good lessons from your research capacity in this country," Gachagua said.
"We are amazed that you have been able to bring 540, 000 farmers under one federation. This is a lesson we want to learn from you."
The DP was accompanied by his host Vice President Francia Elena Marquez Mina during the meeting and subsequent visit to the Naranjal Research Farm in the State.
He spoke on Wednesday during a meeting with hundreds of coffee farmers in Chinchina County, Caldas State in Colombia.
The DP said Colombia is a world leader in coffee production pleading with the nation to share its successes.
"The world market is huge. We are not in competition. We are requesting the Colombia Federation to partner with us because we are open to discussions on partnering so you can market our coffee in your markets," he said.
Gachagua said the revival of the sector was on course adding that the Kenya Coffee Research Foundation will be revamped to ramp up efforts to make coffee farming profitable again.
"We want you to help us in matters of research. We had a very good research station, the Coffee Research Foundation, but because of policy mistakes, research was abandoned and as a result, we have not come up with better varieties that are disease-resistant," he said.
Gachagua said the government hopes to increase the productivity of coffee from two kilogrammes of cherry per tree per year to 10 kilogrammes.
It also seeks to increase the area under production from 116,000 Hectares to 170,000 Hectares.
He said the country needs the revival of key institutions including the Coffee Research Institute and the Coffee Board of Kenya and a reintroduction of agricultural extension officers in the villages.
The DP affirmed the Kenya Kwanza administration's quest to directly penetrate the global coffee market instead of relying on brokers.
"We produce high quality coffee but our farmers take nothing home. Thirty years ago, we were producing 200, 000 metric tonnes a year but because of poor prices the farmers got demoralised along the way and the yield went down. We are now at 51,000 metric tonnes a year," he added.
He said it was no longer tenable to let the industry exist at the behest of self-seeking middlemen out to exploit hardworking farmers.
Gachagua added that the problem is not the soil, but people buying our coffee denied access to the world market.
"Our struggles to penetrate the market have been frustrating. The brokers smile all the way to the bank as the coffee farmers cry all the way to the farms. That is the sad situation we find ourselves in," he said.
The government is also supporting the modernisation and digitisation of the coffee processing infrastructure.
The DP is accompanied by Principal Secretaries Julius Korir (Cabinet Affairs, ODP), and Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok.
The chairperson of the Senate’s Agricultural Committee and Kirinyaga Senator Kamau Murango, his Nyeri counterpart Senator Wahome Wamatinga, the chairman of the Parliamentary Coffee Caucus and Nyeri MP Duncan Mathenge and a group of coffee farmers from various counties.