Kenya is relying on its hard-earned reputation for quality coffee to ensure that farmers receive a fair deal from the trade. Kenya is taking a whole picture approach to the value chain, with the intention of giving farmers a fair share of the profits.
Kenya feels that, as a result of its positioning on the coffee belt, it has a real advantage in terms of quality. However, despite this advantage, Kenyan coffee farmers have failed to benefit from their product.
To address this issue, the Kenyan government has embarked on a series of initiatives to ensure that the coffee value chain benefits the growers. The initiatives include revitalizing old coffee plantations, providing growers with quality seedlings, and upgrading milling to improve quality.
Another strategy to ensure that growers benefit from the business is to improve the price discovery process at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange to ensure that growers get fair and competitive prices for their produce.
At the same time, the country is opening up new areas for coffee farming to regions with the best climatic conditions for the cultivation of the crop.
The strategy aims to place the coffee farmer at the centre of the value chain to ensure that they get transparent marketing and sales channels for their produce, access to affordable credit, and direct access to reliable markets for their produce.
Kenya also aims to attract investment to the coffee sector to help grow the business and ensure that the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda benefits growers.
For thousands of smallholder coffee growers, there’s a renewed sense of hope.