It’s a boost for coffee farmers in Baringo County after the County Government brokered a deal to have coffee produce access direct market in South Korea.
Speaking at Kituro Coffee Cooperative Society, Baringo Central during the launch of free Government subsidized fertilises for coffee,Baringo Governor Stanley Kiptis said for decades coffee farmers had been shortchanged by cartels who buy their coffee at lower price and resell them to millers at higher prices hence killing the energy and morale of a farmer who has since invested heavily in coffee farming.
The cartels in coffee saw many farmers uprooting their coffee seeking for alternative cash crops such as macadamia and pyrethrum while others resorted to dairy cattle keeping.
But with the new partnership with Korean Government and world best friends the county have since encouraged farmers to plant coffee through induced motivation where farmers are given fertilises and coffee seedlings, the county Government has set aside 4 million to purchase new variety seedling of coffee which will mature faster and thus farmers enjoying benefits of it.
To address the issue of farmers coffee being graded differently,where complains emerged that farmers who supply coffee to millers, their coffee are graded on lower grades thus not earning them the benefits,the county is partnering with Korean to have coffee milling plant constructed in Eldama Ravine to cater for coffee in the north and central rift.
Coffee farming is practised in Baringo highlands of Kabarnet,Kabartonjo,ossen,