Time to give coffee sector a kick-start

THAT Kenya’s coffee sector is on its deathbed is indisputable.
In fact, as a top Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers official noted during a recent stakeholders’ meeting called to diagnose what is ailing the sector, it is in the intensive care unit.
The tragedy is that the very authorities that are supposed to nurse it back to health seem determined to switch off its life support system and condemn it to an early death.
The once thriving crop that brought so much joy to many a Kenyan household and was virtually the economy’s engine has been left to go to the dogs, to such an extent that it is hardly recognizable. There are so many professionals who are today what they are because of the sector, particularly during the golden 1970s.
The warning shots were fired in the early 1990s when smallholder farmers vowed to uproot their bushes. While some actually made good the threat, the authorities threatened fire and brimstone and used the big stick to whip the rest into line. But no concrete steps were taken to address the woes facing them. And thus began either inter-planting, which farmers thought made more economic sense, or total neglect and abandonment.
The situation has hit crisis levels. Big players have joined the fray vowing to reduce their acreages or abandon the crop altogether unless the government wakes up from its long slumber and takes measures to revive the sector.
Publicly quoted Kakuzi, the torchbearer in this protest, has halted operations citing continuous unsustainable losses, forcing it to cut down a massive 800 hectares in preference for horticultural crops. Another big player, Socfinaf, with huge plantations, is also scaling down its coffee business, citing deteriorating international prices that have led to poor earnings. Hesitant banks unwilling to advance credit to farmers further compound the situation.
The upshot is a huge drop in production. From a high of 130,000 metric tonnes, which earned US$210 million in the 1987/88 coffee year to an all, time low of 55,000 metric tonnes worth US$78 million last year.
Granted, the world prices have taken a plunge— the lowest in 36 years — but the quality of Kenyan coffee wouldn’t get anywhere near that of countries that have put in place clear policies. But what do we have in Kenya? It’s a veritable Tower of Babel, particularly in the marketing.
It takes forever for the farmer to get his returns, if any, as his produce gets through the marketing maze. And what trickles down to him is a mere mockery of his toil. Hordes of busybodies in the name of middlemen, most of whom have never seen a coffee bush, strategically position themselves along the chain to line up their pockets for mostly non-existent services.
At the coffee conference to be held in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, in February, the government must give concrete proposals on the way forward. It must be a forum where bureaucrats present more than just statistics. The farmer must be given the opportunity to present his case and be listened to. After all, he is the cornerstone of the industry: Take him away and the whole structure comes tumbling down.