Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has announced that the government has cornered cartels in the coffee industry and foiled plans to frustrate the ongoing reforms in the agricultural sub-sector.
Speaking on Sunday Gachagua said the government’s decision to pay coffee farmers an advance of Sh4 billion and invite global coffee dealers to directly buy Kenyan coffee, are some of the moves that have thwarted plans of the cartels.
The Deputy President said the reforms in the coffee sub-sector were facing resistance from brokers and middlemen, who have been profiteering more than the farmers.
“They have been buying the produce at a low price, sell at high prices and retain all the profits. We have been asking them to share the profits but are opposed to it. Instead, they conspired to boycott Kenyan coffee, creating an artificial crisis in an attempt to coerce the government into abandoning the reforms,” said the Deputy President.
He added that the government was exploring more solutions to problems bedevilling the sector by seeking groundbreaking business deals for the farmers.
The Deputy President also noted that the Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives Simon Chelugui was working on modalities for payment of the Sh4 billion directly to the farmers.
He added that the cartels frustrated implementation of the reforms in 2019 and the previous administration stalled the planned changes.
“This time we are determined. The government has set aside Sh4 billion and there is another Sh2 billion to buy coffee. The Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives is working on modalities of how the money will reach farmers directly. We thank President William Ruto for his intervention. We had a meeting with American ambassador to Kenya Meg Whitman and she agreed to introduce our coffee to the world’s largest coffee chain Starbucks,” said Gachagua.
He continued: “They will be buying our coffee directly. Some of the buyers have been using our coffee to blend their products and increase the quality of coffee produced from other countries. We want to remove the middlemen and brokers from the chain.”
He explained that the government’s fight with brokers and middlemen was about profits. He said the reforms were on course and that the Ruto-administration was determined to restore sanity in the agricultural sector.
