By Dorothy Musyoka
In a bid to pivot the economy towards sustained turnaround as set out in the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), Cabinet considered and approved a debt waiver coffee farmers and other coffee sector reforms.
President William Ruto chaired a cabinet meeting at State House Nairobi which focused on ways to spur to the realisation of the administration’s transformative agenda towards economic renaissance through increased direct investments.
Under this programme, the meeting sanctioned the write-off of historical debts amounting to Kshs.6.8 billion owed by coffee farmers nation wide.
In a cabinet dispatch, to assist in settling the debts owed by farmers, coffee cooperatives, savings and credit cooperative organizations (saccos), and other creditors must submit a list of indebted farmers to the Ministry for Cooperatives within seven days.
“To facilitate the settlements of debts accrued by farmers, coffee cooperatives, saccos and other creditors are required to submit to the ministry for cooperatives with in seven days , a list of all farmers who owe them money, along with all supporting documents for verification and processing of payment. Any fraudulent or fictious claims will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” read the dispatch.
Moreover, the cabinet urged parliament to expedite the enactment of corporate governance reforms for cooperatives to establish institutional safeguards that will enhance accountability and transparency.
Among the new measures is a requirement that any borrowing by cooperatives must be authorized by farmers during annual or extraordinary general meetings.
To further strengthen the coffee production value chain, the new Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) will be modernized following international best practices
“To further bolster the coffee production value chain, in the new Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) will undergo modernisation in accordance with international best practices. Additionally to the concerns on the quality coffee parchments, modern eco-pulpers will be established in all emerging coffee growing areas for primary processing, enhancing efficiency and sustainability of the subsector,” the cabinet said.
These measures, which also include improved coffee seedling propagation under the Coffee Research Institute (CRI), aim to boost coffee production to a target of 200,000 metric tonnes by 2027.
The interventions seeks to reposition Kenya’s coffee on the global stage as one of the nation’s premier exports.