Relief for Farmers as AU Declares Coffee a Strategic Agricultural Commodity

On Thursday, representatives from 25 African Coffee growing countries during the G25 Coffee Summit in Nairobi signed the ‘Nairobi Declaration’, an agreement that seeks to have Coffee included in the list of strategic commodities in harmony with AU Agenda 2063.

The three-day summit organized by the InterAfrican Coffee Organization (IACO) and the Ministry of Agriculture paved the way for Africa to address the challenges faced by the African coffee sector under the auspices of the African Union.

Speaking during the event, agriculture cabinet secretary Peter Munya noted the need for the government to create an environment where coffee farmers could thrive. He added that the government is committed to ensuring coffee farmers highly benefit from their produce by protecting them from cartels.

According to the CS, there is an estimate of over 800,000 smallholder coffee farmers who market their products through 500 Cooperative Societies across the country with 4,000 small -to -medium coffee estates with farm sizes ranging from 5 to 10 hectares and 100 large coffee estates with sizes of between 10 and over 200 hectares.

The government has been on the move to institute coffee reforms across the country, which have had a positive impact, including increased coffee earnings.

For instance, in March, over 900 Small-scale coffee farmers in Kericho, Nandi and Bomet doubled their earnings after making their first direct export to South Korea. The Kericho based Kipkelion Cooperative Society received 116 shillings per kilo, almost twice the average price of 76 shillings per kilo usually received after selling to the local firms.

Farmers are also receiving higher pay locally on their produce, with some societies paying up to Sh125 shillings per kilogram of cherry.

“As a result of these reforms, the Kenyan Coffee Industry is registering noticeable improvement with a realization from 18.73 billion shillings in 2013/2014, 21.61 billion shillings in 2018/2019 and 27.07 billion shillings in 2020/2021, which translates to an increase of 33 per cent of coffee earnings between 2013/2014 and 2020/2021,” Munya noted.

In terms of coffee prices, the average coffee price per 60kg bag increased from USD 184.60 in 2018/2019 to USD 337.30 in 2020/2021, which translates to an 83 per cent increase.

Coffee prices also continued to show remarkable improvement in the auction in the 2021/2022 financial year, crossing to an average of USD 374.40 per 60 kg bag as of 31st March 2022. This translates to an 11.1 percent increase from the USD 337.30/60kg bag recorded in the previous year.

The G25 African Coffee Summit, which brought together heads of state and governments of the 25 African Coffee Producing Countries, ends today.