Farmers welcome Government Effort to Revive Coffee Farming in Murang’a

The county’s coffee growers have praised the government’s efforts to revitalize the weakening crop subsector. Before the industry collapsed, many farmers in the area relied heavily on coffee farming for their livelihood. 

As a result, many of them were reduced to poverty, unable to provide for their families or even satisfy their basic needs. Speaking during a conference on NGAAF projects on economic empowerment, hosted by Murang’a County Woman Representative, Betty Maina, the farmers in Ichagaki, Maragua constituency, stated that they were prepared to resume growing cattle on their lands after receiving assurances from the government.

“We are more than willing to plant coffee again. We uprooted our coffee because the conditions were unbearable. We are counting on the government to keep its word, which includes finding new markets for cherries and streamlining the cooperative movement,” said one of the farmers, Joseph Kamande.

These opinions are in line with what Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua stated the day before, in a speech in Maragua: the government would forgive all debts that farmers received through their cooperative societies but were unable to repay.

At the time of commissioning the multi-million-dollar Murang’a coffee mills in Ikundu village, Maragua, which are owned by the Murang'a coffee union, the pledge was made.

James Kimani, another farmer, asked the government to keep its word and not back down from its pledge to revive co-farming, pointing out that they were prepared to return to their farms to cultivate the crop.

“I am prepared to grow coffee again after uprooting my coffee plants for bananas years ago,” he remarked, citing a government pledge. Representative Betty Maina, a woman from Murang’a County, said that while the decision to waive debts and look into new markets was commendable, more work needed to be done to revive the once-productive crop in the area.

“We need to motivate farmers to plant new coffee varieties that will increase their profits by providing a higher return on investment. As leaders, we have a responsibility to support farmers by encouraging them to graft their old varieties, while also providing them with improved and new variety seedlings that will yield higher yields,” one of the speakers said.

Maina noted that many coffee growers kept caring for unproductive bushes that were susceptible to pests and illnesses. As a result, the unproductive bushes ended up receiving a lot of agricultural inputs.

The resurrection of coffee cultivation has been described as the sole means of realizing the grinding potential that still affects their regions by members of the County Assembly from coffee-growing regions, led by Caroline Njoroge, the chair of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture and Livestock.

The Minister of Community Affairs, Simon Wamwea of Ng’araria ward, has called on agricultural extension officers who have stopped visiting farmers due to a ministerial policy, citing demand for their services, to reverse their decision and resume visiting coffee farmers to advise them on optimal farming practices.

“Farmer-farmers will benefit from the assistance of agricultural extension officers in implementing farming techniques that increase yield and boost business productivity,” he said.