Mt Kenya coffee farmers reap big from new programme

Over 42, 000 farmers, who are part of the Nestlé’s Nescafé Plan programme and members of 12 Farmers’ Cooperative Societies (FCSs) in Nyeri, Murang’a, Embu, Kirinyaga, Kiambu and Meru Counties, have profited from the best payoff in 5 years.

These benefits were reaped by a distinct upsurge in the production of premium grade AA, AB and PB coffee, which increased beyond  75 percent in the 2016/2017 year.

Farmers from Karithathi FCS in Kirinyaga were well-off, receiving the highest pay at Ksh 103 per Kilogram followed by Murue FCS in Embu and Kangunu FCS in Murang’a at Ksh 101 and Ksh 90.10 per Kg respectively.

Averagely the 12 cooperative societies paid their farmers an augmented fee of Ksh 87 per Kg compared to an average of Ksh 42 per Kg paid in the last five years.

Collectively, the gratified farmers pocketed a total of Ksh 630 million in May 2017 in exchange of 7.3 million kilograms of cherry.

Coffee Management Services (CMS) Agronomist, Peter Kimata, commended the farmers for diligently following the training offered to them under the Nescafé Plan, which turned out effective.

Written by Sally Boyani