Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has said he will present a bill that seeks to ban the export of unprocessed coffee to boost farmers’ earnings.

Kenya’s coffee accounts for about 1 per cent of the annual global output, but the top quality Arabica beans are sought after by global roasters who use them to blend with other varieties.

Raw coffee beans, which are Kenya’s fifth biggest source of hard currency, are usually sold at a weekly auction in Nairobi or directly to buyers abroad who then roast, package and sell them at a hefty premium.

Coffee exports earned $214 million (Sh21.4 billion) in the year to March.

Kuria said some countries are importing raw Kenyan coffee, processing it and re-exporting it back to Kenya for sale at the expense of farmers who “do not reap maximum benefits from their produce”.

He said his new bill will prohibit the export of raw coffee in any form.

“I am introducing a bill in the National Assembly to provide that coffee be exported only in processed form having been roasted, milled, packed and branded, clearly labelled with a ‘Made in Kenya’ inscription,” Kuria said in a letter to the Speaker yesterday.

There was no immediate comment from the Ministry of Agriculture or coffee exporters.

Kenya’s coffee output peaked at 129,000 tonnes in 1988-89, but has since dropped steadily due to poor management and global price swings. Farmers have switched crops or sold their land.

Kenya’s harvest fell 12 per cent in the 2016-17 season to 40,700 tonnes, according to government data.

There is a plan by the government and counties in the next three years to mobilise Sh7.5 billion to fund the revival of the coffee sub-sector in the country.  The coffee industry has been adversely affected by challenges, eroding farmer benefits and incomes, leading to poverty, food insecurity and unemployment.

Among challenges is noncompetitive milling and marketing systems that have removed coffee farmers from control of their commodities and extremely poor, archaic and dilapidated coffee processing factories.

There is also a lack of access of credit and other forms of working capital and generally poor and non-accountable management systems from the farm level to the  markets  and low value addition.

Source: The Star

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