Coffee cooperative societies' debts may be written off by the government, according to hints made by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
On Wednesday, during the Murang'a Coffee Mill commissioning, Gachagua said he would lead negotiations with the Ministry of Cooperatives to examine farmer debts.
He said farmers should anticipate good news as scrutinizing the debts will conclude in three weeks.
According to Gachagua, the president is sincerely interested in revitalizing the coffee industry, and one way to achieve this is to eliminate all farmer loans.
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The deputy president reaffirmed his commitment to streamlining the coffee industry and noted that reforms are beginning to show results. He continued by saying that Kenya exported a lot of coffee last year and that the government was trying to eliminate all the cartels that had long taken advantage of farmers.
Gachagua claims that the Cherry Advance Fund, which currently has Ksh. 4 billion, was established to help farmers boost their output while warning them about financial limitations.
All coffee farmers can access the funds; those who supply their coffee through the New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) are not the only ones.
He continued that in less than a month, coffee growers will also have access to discounted fertilizer at their cooperative society.
Gachagua praised the Murang'a Farmers Cooperative Union for founding the coffee mill, claiming it would help process and sell the finished product without requiring many participants.
He mentioned that the union has permission to export its goods directly to markets worldwide without requiring numerous intermediaries and that the coffee will be processed and packaged at the mill.
The government helped the facility purchase a transformer last month, and the coffee mill then started up.
The union's management strives to increase the plant's processing capacity to more than 5 tonnes per hour from its current capacity of 1.2 tonnes per hour.
Simon Chelugui, Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives, applauded the plant's installation and stated that the county's farmers will gain more from their produce.
Chelugui commended the Murang'a farmers for utilizing the Cherry Advance Fund, stating that over 15,000 coffee growers had profited from the fund.
He declared that over 15,000 farmers in Murang'a County had received Ksh 354 million from the Cherry Fund kitty.
