Kenya is set to host the first G25 African coffee Summit this week in Nairobi starting 25th – 27th May 2022.
The summit, themed “Sustainable Development and Economic Growth in the African Coffee Sector” will bring together heads of state and governments of the 25 African Coffee Producing Countries to come to an agreement on integrating coffee as an anchor commodity in the African Union (AU) in harmony with the Africa Union Agenda 2063.
This will pave way for Africa to address the challenges faced by the African coffee sector under the auspices of the African Union to build a united and integrated Africa.
The G25 coffee summit will also aim at promoting value addition and domestic consumption in conjunction with educating people on coffee and its benefits on health, as well as expanding coffee trading regionally under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework.
At the same time, the summit will seek to share knowledge on the imminent danger of climate change on coffee and the ongoing global pandemic COVID 19 which has had a tremendous effect on the coffee sector from seed to cup.
Hosting the first African Coffee Summit in Kenya gives the country an unrivalled opportunity to enhance its economic growth by enhancing the export of coffees to a number of African countries.
“By hosting the first ACS, President Uhuru Kenyatta shall have the opportunity to enumerate the gains of his legacy of restructuring coffee reforms agenda to empower the coffee farmer among others gains,” Dr. Francis Owino, Principal Secretary State Department for Crops Development and Agriculture Research said.
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Kenya was granted the opportunity to host the G25 African coffee summit during the Inter African Coffee Organization (IACO) 61st Annual General Assembly which took place in Kigali, Rwanda from 16th to 18th November 2021.
The IACO seeks to address the challenges facing the coffee sector in all the 25 member countries in Africa. Kenya has been a member of the Inter- African Coffee Organization (IACO) since 1960.
Coffee continues to be a major contributor to foreign exchange earnings. It is also a source of livelihood for an estimated 10 million people in Africa and attracts direct and indirect investments. It is also a major source of raw materials to the agro-processing industries and contributes to narrowing trade imbalances between Africa and its trading partners.
According to the ministry of agriculture, only 58,424 tons of clean coffee have been exported to 11 countries only for the last five years, from 2016/17- to 2020/21.
Globally Coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil and its turnover is estimated at USD 0.5 Trillion. However, only 10 percent of this turnover is transmitted to coffee growers.
In Kenya, it is majorly grown in Kericho, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Nyeri, Embu, Bungoma, Trans-Nzoia, Nandi, and Kisii counties.
According to the International Coffee Organization, Kenya, on average, produces 800,000 bags of coffee annually. The coffee industry export earnings have improved by 33 percent between 2014 and 2021.