Coffee farmers are up in arms over plans by the government to introduce a new coffee payment model.
The growers say the change sponsored by the government is designed to sabotage the cooperative movement.
Majority of the farmers say the decision by President William Ruto that they be paid from the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) five days after the weekly sale is ill-advised.
Kabare farmers cooperative society Chairman Cyrus Njogu said the decision, if implemented, will sabotage the coffee sector, as majority of the farmers harvest below 150 kilogrammes in the entire period.
Njogu feels the decision, unless reversed, will destroy the cooperative movement apart from causing conflicts among the members.
“The President could have invited the genuine farmers for effective consultation to save the coffee sector from collapsing,” said Mr Njogu.
Ruto, in a televised session with vernacular television stations at the start of the tour, hinted that coffee payment from June will be remitted directly to the farmers by the NCE, as a way to enhance good governance in the coffee sector.
In the concluded Mt Kenya region development tour, Ruto said the farmers will directly receive their payment from the Direct Settlement System (DSS) through the NCE.
“In the new regulations coffee will be paid after five days upon sale, and to perfect it, we have brought in the Capital Markets Authority (CMA),” he said.
He said the situation must change as in the past, coffee was paid after six months, exposing the farmers to suffering..
Coffee farmer Peter Gikonyo from Murang’a asked the government to further explain to the farmers on the guidelines that will perfect the directive.
“The current regulations that guide coffee farming have not been amended to allow proceeds to be remitted directly to the farmers,” said Gikonyo.
He added that direct payment is a scheme destined to push out Kenyans from the cooperative movement.
Sara Wambui, a coffee farmer in Kangema, said farmers are presently interested in coffee seedlings to replace the old variety of SL that the majority inherited from their parents.
“Let issues about payment be introduced later after the government assists the growers in accessing the new coffee varieties,” said Ms Wambui.
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Samuel Mwai, a farmer in Mukurwe-ini sub-county in Nyeri, said the government ought to conduct a public participation to ensure all are in agreement.
Speaking to the Standard, Mwai said the system will be chaotic to the growers as they will be on their own if the proceeds are not remitted into their accounts.
“We have witnessed the DSS remitting payment in the wrong accounts. What will happen if farmers miss their payments, whom will they consult?” said Mwai.
At Gatagua farmers cooperative society in Murang’a, the growers in their meeting resisted their details shared with the NCE, for usage in facilitating payment through DSS.
The society chairman, Nahason Chege, asked the growers to remain focused as the issues pertaining to payment are resolved in the annual general meetings, as the directive will cause chaos.
The coffee, he said, belongs to the growers and the Cooperative Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya has failed to convene meetings with the stakeholders on the same.
“ There is a need for public participation with the farmers, and to listen to the growers who have more information. Mèetings will save emerging unending fights in the societies,” said Mr Chege.
Florence Mwangi, a farmer at Weithaga society, says the government should not rush to introduce direct payment but review some of the regulation imposed contrally to Coffee General Regulations 2019.
In December last year, Oparanya ordered that starting next year, all coffee farmers will receive their earnings directly from the auction.
The notice read, “The cooperative societies’ administrative and operational costs will be capped at 20 percent of gross coffee earnings, subject to periodic review by the commissioner for cooperatives”.
