Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua met with members of the Baricho Coffee Cooperative Society amid plans by the government to reform the tea and coffee subsectors.
Farmers from Baricho Coffee Cooperative Society paid the Deputy President a courtesy call at his rural home in Nyeri on Monday.
"I took time to update them on the progress we are making in coffee reforms and the way forward as we work to streamline the market for the produce," Gachagua said.
The Deputy President also updated the farmers on his recent visit to Colombia which he termed as very successful.
Gachagua said he held high-level conversations with potential buyers at the Producer Roaster Forum in Medellín City, Colombia.
He also informed them of an upcoming visit to Germany on a similar mission to find buyers for Kenya's produce.
"With direct engagement at the table, the farmer will negotiate and receive commensurate returns," Gachagua said.
He said the Baricho farmers expressed their confidence in President William Ruto's administration in sorting out the subsector challenges with finality.
"They understand the process is likely to take long, but they will be patient," he said.
While speaking in Meru on Sunday, Gachagua claimed that cartels in the coffee subsector had tried to bribe him and Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi to halt the ongoing reforms.
"I want to ask farmers to be patient, we are almost there," he said.
"Wamekuja kwa huyu Linturi akawaambia watembee. Huyu CS hawezi uza wakulima wa Kenya. Wamekuja kwangu kujaribu kunihonga ati nikubali mabadiliko isimamishwe katika kilo wanipatie shilingi mbili nikawaambia watembee. Sasa wamefika mwisho," Gachagua said.
This loosely translates to, "They went to Linturi but he rejected their advances. This CS cannot betray Kenyan farmers. They came to me and tried to bribe me to stop the reforms. They offered me Sh2 for every kilo sold but I told them no. They have reached a dead end."
He insisted that the journey to liberate the coffee farmer is a difficult one but it will be done.
Gachagua insisted that the cartels have been fighting back but the progress made so far in the sector are promising.
He assured farmers that all was well and that soon the sector would be streamlined.