Kisii coffee farmers to get equipment for value addition

 

The Kisii administration will help farmers to get equipment for roasting and packaging coffee to boost their earnings from the produce. 

Agriculture executive Ezman Onsarigo said improving the sector would encourage more people to venture into coffee farming. 

"As a county what we want is to encourage our factories to begin thinking of value addition. With this they can be assured of good earnings," Onsarigo said.

 He said the number of coffee farmers is still low compared to other areas. 

Onsarigo spoke at Nyamache in Bobasi where he presided over the metric registration of coffee farmers in the region. Kisii has at least 100,000 coffee farmers according to Onsarigo.

The metric registration would capture the actual number of farmers who sell coffee from their farms to the factories.

"This is the first time we are trying to get an authentic figure of the farmers and the acreage being used for the crop. The data will help us weed out brokers who are notorious in every sector in this country," he said.

The Agriculture executive said the sector has been riddled with malpractices, which have hampered the production potential.

"With the registration, the county will be in a position to know how much in subsidies is needed. With a computerised system this will be easily done," he said.

 Supporting the factories in value addition is at the centre of the efforts to reduce losses which significantly hurt coffee farming.

 Kisii's coffee sector had been hit with theft of berries from the factories, something the county is keen to address, he said. 

"There had been challenges for sure but theft and killing of guards has featured in some factories in Kisii," he said.

Onsarigo also said there had been poor management of the factories thus reducing the production potential of the plants.    BY  THE  STAR