CS WYCLIFFE OPARANYA DISTRIBUTES 400,000 ROBUSTA COFFEE SEEDLINGS TO FARMERS IN BUSIA TO REVIVE COFFEE FARMING
To revive coffee farming in Busia County, the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the Ministry of Co-operatives and MSMEs Development, Dr. Wycliffe Oparanya led a sensitization program in the county where more than 400,000 Robusta coffee seedlings were distributed to 2500 registered coffee farmers in the County.
While addressing farmers at Agricultural Training Center, the CS noted 60 years ago Kenya was leading in coffee production in Africa but it dropped to position five after Ethiopia, producing over 400,000, Uganda over 200,000, Cote de-Vore 106,000, and Tanzania 70,000 while Kenya produced 51,000 metric tons of coffee.
The former Kakamega governor noted that poor governance and leadership in the coffee sector has been the stumbling block in improving coffee production in Kenya but the government is formulating laws that will regulate the sector and enable the sector to be attractive again.
According to him in 2023/2024 Busia County only managed to produce 39,589 kgs of coffee compared to the neighboring Bungoma County that produced more than 2M metric tons of coffee.
He promised that the National government plans to have a coffee milling plant in every county but urged farmers in Busia to increase the production of coffee to provide raw material for the factory.
Busia Deputy Governor, H.E Arthur Odera on behalf of Busia Governor, Dr. Paul Otuoma promised that the county is ready to provide 100 acres of land to the National government to construct Coffee Research Institute to help farmers in the county get enough knowledge on coffee farming.
He promised that the county will encourage farmers to venture into coffee farming for them to reap the goodies that come with coffee farming.