- Chelugui said the Cooperatives Bill 2023 which was approved by the cabinet last week will help revolutionize the sector.
- He said that the government appreciates the role that coffee plays in economic growth
Image: FILE
The government has put in place a raft of reforms and strategies to revitalize the coffee sub-sector, Cooperatives and MSMEs Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui has said.
Describing the ongoing reforms as a game changer, CS Chelugui assured Kenyans that the government is determined to bring the sector back to profitability.
In particular, the Cabinet Secretary said the Cooperatives Bill 2023 which was approved by the cabinet last week and the Coffee Bill 2023 which has already been tabled in the senate will help revolutionize the sector.
CS Chelugui made the remarks at Kipkelion Cooperatives Coffee Mills.
"My ministry is championing reforms through the two bills. The reforms are aimed at strengthening institutional frameworks, improving governance structures in cooperatives and mainstreaming in the agricultural sector," Chelugui said in Kipkelion, Kericho County.
"The strengthening of institutional frameworks that oversights cooperate is a shot in the arm for smallholders in agriculture that is the mainstay of millions of the Kenyan households."
The government is also actively promoting and registering workers' cooperatives which have the potential to aggregate young professionals and artisans graduating from educational institutions into viable units, he said.
He added that this approach will generate employment opportunities.
The Cooperatives Bill 2023 introduces the Inter-government Cooperatives Relations Technical Forum while also strengthening the office of the Commissioner of Cooperatives to enhance governance.
"Farmers will no longer depend on profiteers who had hitherto controlled the value chain activity including deciding which price to buy or sell coffee," he said.
He said that the government appreciates the role that coffee plays in economic growth noting that the coffee sector is a key component of the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
Last week, the cabinet approved a further Sh4 billion to be managed by New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) to increase the coffee cherry from Sh20 per kilogram to Sh80 per kilogram for cherries delivered to the factories.