Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has urged the international coffee industry to give greater priority to farmers’ incomes, warning that weak returns undermine the foundation of the trade.
Kagwe spoke at a coffee strategy forum in Rome on 14 October. His argument was that buyers, processors and governments need to invest in the people who produce the crop, rather than focus only on markets further along the supply chain.
He called for stronger partnerships, improved regulation and wider market opportunities for growers. The message places the viability of farming alongside efforts to attract investment and develop exports.
For Kenya, the issue is whether reforms and international cooperation translate into better returns after production and marketing costs. Announcing a partnership does not, by itself, establish that an individual farmer will receive a higher payment.
The next useful measures will be the terms offered to growers, the services available to them and the payments they actually receive. Kagwe’s remarks are a call for reform, rather than a new guaranteed price announcement.
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WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
- Measures linking coffee prices and value addition to farmer earnings.
- Any concrete agreements or implementation plans following the Rome remarks.