Recent overtures by the Government and development partners towards the beleaguered coffee sector should be applauded.
Coffee was once the primary cash crop, and earned the country the prestigious title of world best producer of coffee. But its popularity fell in the 1990s, with production plummeting from 130,000 metric tonnes in the 1980s to 40,000 tonnes last year. Coffee is now only the fourth-largest earner after tourism, tea and horticulture.
The chief reason for this drop was decreasing coffee acreage, which is being lost to other high value crops, like horticulture, and real estate development in areas adjacent to Nairobi.
The decline was mostly brought about by mismanagement in the sector, which forced farmers to make do with paltry earnings. The low earnings, coupled with the high cost of inputs drove farmers to abandoning it for more lucrative crops, like horticulture and food crops.
But there is a ray of hope for the dying sector as the European Union said yesterday that it had increased funding to the sector. Under the plan, farmers will receive about Sh500 million in the next four years to improve production and quality.
Certification project
This follows another plan to boost quality control in coffee production, strengthen competitiveness of the crop and increase farmers’ earnings launched in July.
This plan would see the EU work and Kenya-based DCDM jointly fund a Sh370 million certification project aimed at increasing output and boost earnings by 25 per cent.
Moreover, Government recently introduced a hybrid plant resistant to coffee berry disease and to coffee leaf rust.
It is also high-yielding and suitable for planting at twice the normal density.
All these will help revive the floundering sector, and boost falling production.
Coffee was once the primary cash crop, and earned the country the prestigious title of world best producer of coffee. But its popularity fell in the 1990s, with production plummeting from 130,000 metric tonnes in the 1980s to 40,000 tonnes last year. Coffee is now only the fourth-largest earner after tourism, tea and horticulture.
The chief reason for this drop was decreasing coffee acreage, which is being lost to other high value crops, like horticulture, and real estate development in areas adjacent to Nairobi.
The decline was mostly brought about by mismanagement in the sector, which forced farmers to make do with paltry earnings. The low earnings, coupled with the high cost of inputs drove farmers to abandoning it for more lucrative crops, like horticulture and food crops.
But there is a ray of hope for the dying sector as the European Union said yesterday that it had increased funding to the sector. Under the plan, farmers will receive about Sh500 million in the next four years to improve production and quality.
Certification project
This follows another plan to boost quality control in coffee production, strengthen competitiveness of the crop and increase farmers’ earnings launched in July.
This plan would see the EU work and Kenya-based DCDM jointly fund a Sh370 million certification project aimed at increasing output and boost earnings by 25 per cent.
Moreover, Government recently introduced a hybrid plant resistant to coffee berry disease and to coffee leaf rust.
It is also high-yielding and suitable for planting at twice the normal density.
All these will help revive the floundering sector, and boost falling production.
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