Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1088272,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1088272/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 161,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ndwiga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 278,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njeru Ndwiga",
        "slug": "peter-ndwiga"
    },
    "content": "coffee was worth. A big portion of that money is again skimmed by the cooperative leaders to the extent that by the time the farmers get what they are paid, it is such a pittance. That kills coffee farming in this Republic. At the moment, 80 per cent of all the coffee in this country is handled at the marketing level by less than four players. These four players own mills, they are the marketers and represent the buyers in Europe to the extent that the coffee does not quite belong to the farmer, but to these cartels. This Bill intends to cure that problem. In curing that problem, the Bill will introduce amendments to introduce a marketing system whereby farmers will be paid their dues directly once the coffee is sold. We intend to introduce a direct payment system for the farmer so that once the coffee leaves the cooperative society or a grower’s factory and goes to the mill, then it is taken to the coffee exchange. From the coffee exchange, it will be no longer the marketing agents who will be in charge of that coffee. At that point, the coffee will still belong to the farmer. The contracts will specify how much the farmer will pay for milling and how much the farmer will pay the broker who will handle their coffee at the coffee exchange. The farmers will then be paid their monies directly into their accounts. The Bill proposes that the cooperative societies will be paid a 10 per cent for running the factories and so forth. Once that is done, we anticipate that farmers will get back to producing coffee. Madam Deputy Speaker, we know that the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has a licensed nine unions. These nine unions are all vertically integrated from the farmer to the factories to the milling. These nine unions have milling facilities. Now that they have been licensed, we anticipate them to market their own coffee. The unions will be able to grow and pay farmers what is due to them. It is not them who will be paying, but it is the Decision Support System (DSS) that we are creating. It will pay the farmers directly. That system will deduct whatever liabilities the individual farmer would have in their cooperative societies. Once that happens, the farmer will get what is due for them. Madam Deputy Speaker, the marketing agents that I referred to earlier who are handling coffee at the moment are also vertically integrated in respect that they own the mills, they are licensed as marketing agents, and they are also the buyers of the coffee. It is crazy. Now we want to cure that problem and in curing it, we expect that the farmers of this country will begin to get what is due to them. You go to coffee growing areas and what you see out there is poverty. Coffee has a lot of money. I am happy that this year the prices of coffee have improved. It is because of the introduction of this Bill and there is no other reason, these commercial agents have known that we are after them. It is because of that that coffee prices have picked up this year. Madam Deputy Speaker, I am proud that I am a member of one of the top cooperative societies in this country called Kibugu Farmers Cooperative Society. This year, we have been paid properly with Kshs110 per kilogram of shell. Just look at me and you see the smile on my face. We are hoping that we will spread this across the country. The problem we want to cure here is that these operators who handle the farmers of coffee do not allow competitors into the market."
}