The biggest coffee chain in the US, Starbucks, and Kenya are close to forming a direct supply arrangement for coffee.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua shared the good news with coffee farmers on Sunday at a church service in Nyeri County, where he discussed a systematic strategy to revive the country’s coffee industry and assist farmers while also reviving the faltering economy.
Gachagua claimed that the government had discussions with the US coffee business Starbucks Corporation over the US government-backed agreement that was crafted by Meg Whitman, the US ambassador to Kenya.
“Ambassador Meg Whitman has planned coffee buyers in America called Starbucks to meet with the President so that they can be buying our coffee directly,” he said.
The DP added, “The Americans love our coffee. We have told them that what they are getting is the blended version. We have invited them to come and take our coffee in its original form and I am confident that they will be buying our coffee forever.”
Gachagua pointed out that more than five million Kenyans depend on the sector, yet they still earn poor wages as a result of a broken system that seems to reward intermediaries.
With this new deal, the government intends to support farmers who would see greater prices for their coffee, maybe allowing them to recoup their production costs and turn a profit.
This agreement is the result of efforts made by both the previous and current administrations to better the livelihoods of the thousands of coffee farmers who have been abandoning their formerly lucrative coffee sector, which was the leading source of foreign currency due to low-income revenues.
