The Government is deploying police officers to all coffee factories to guard against the rising cases of theft of the produce, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said.
Speaking when he reopened the Nairobi Coffee Exchange Auction on Tuesday at New KPCU Nairobi, Mr Gachagua said theft has caused losses to farmers and must be stopped.
Alongside ongoing reforms, he said, this is part of the measures the Government is taking to ensure coffee farmers get earnings commensurate to their sweat.
Operations at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange were suspended soon after the Coffee Reforms Stakeholders Conference in June this year in Meru, which among other recommendations, rooted for elimination of brokers for the farmer to sell their produce directly for better returns.
The DP said the government is on course and will deliver reforms in the coffee sub-sector by rooting out middlemen and cartels that have for a long time made coffee farming unprofitable.
During the Conference, which was chaired by the Deputy President, that saw direct engagement with farmers from all coffee-growing counties, farmers aired their grievances as well as suggestions on possible solutions to challenges bedeviling them.
The DP also said that the government is aligning relevant legal, policy and operational frameworks for sustainable reforms.
“This is one of the outcomes of the Coffee Subsector Reforms Conference held in June this year. We have brought the farmer to the centre of the coffee auction”, Gachagua said.
He added that ambassadors will be required to champion identification of markets globally for the Kenyan produce, as the country works towards restoring its glory in the global arena.
