By Habil Onyango
Good news to coffee farmers as the government plans to waive Sh 2 billion debts in this financial year.
Government Spokesperson Dr Isaack Mwaura said coffee farmers in the 26 counties will benefit from the grant.
He said the action follows the formation of the Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund which was mandated to provide an affordable, sustainable, and accessible cherry advance to smallholder coffee farmers, (those with less than 20 acres of land under coffee).
Mwaura said the new Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (N-KPCU), KPCU was mandated to manage and administer the fund as per the Public Finance Management Act (Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund) Regulations 2020.
He said it was further enhanced by President William Ruto’s administration and was currently being disbursed at the rate of 40 percent of the prevailing average sales price at the coffee exchange at factory level and Kshs. 20 per kilogram of cherry delivered or 40 percent of the payment rate to members by a cooperative society for the immediate past crop year.
“The Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund does not accrue any interest, farmers are only charged a one-off 3 percent administrative fee,” said Mwaura.
“A smallholder coffee estate or smallholder coffee grower is eligible to benefit from the fund if one is a Kenyan citizen, member of a registered coffee cooperative society or affiliated to the N-KPCU and needs to just have an identity card, or passport and a membership card,” he added
Mwaura said the N-KPCU, has in the last two years disbursed credit totaling Ksh.4.95 billion to 365,872 coffee farmers spread across the 26 coffee-growing counties through the Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund according to records.
He said in the Central Region, the four coffee-growing counties of Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, and Nyeri received a total of Kshs.2.309 billion benefitting 182, 827 farmers.
“There was also an increased coffee milling activity nationally, at the N-KPCU mills, with 8,470 metric tons of coffee milled in the Financial Year 2023/2024 against 878 tons in Financial Year 2022/2023,” said Mwaura.
He said that the revamped N-KCC is currently serving 60,000 dairy farmers through 300 dairy cooperatives, majorly from the Central Region.
He added that the New KCC has a processing capacity of 875,000 where a total of 2,221 metric tons of milk powder was produced using this installed capacity during the FY 2023/2024.
He said, “The government has allocated more funds in the current Financial Year 2024/25 for milk powder processing and completion of the last phase of the N-KCC modernization project,”
