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{
    "id": 1472518,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1472518/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 214,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nyeri Town, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Duncan Mathenge",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "coffee broker, give them seven days to respond, and then it takes another 21 days for the issue to be resolved. This impedes coffee trade. The best prices for our coffee farmers are obtained through direct sales. Therefore, we must allow direct sales to thrive to enable our farmers to achieve better prices than those at the auctions. Direct sales must be allowed to complement the sales at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. Clarity and speedy resolutions are the route to direct sales. The bureaucracy between the agreement and the conclusion of the prices and the export of commodities by the buyer must be streamlined and simplified. In fact, direct sales and a one-stop-shop should be included in this Bill. Hon. Temporary Speaker, during the heydays, the Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) served the coffee farmers. Unfortunately, those assets were mismanaged. Even with the re-establishment of the Coffee Board, we must ensure that the Board's membership does not encounter the same problems that KPCU faced. The New KPCU is a parastatal today but the question of how it will continue to operate alongside the Coffee Board needs to be clarified. Additionally, the milling capacity in this country has been competing for very low volumes. Milling has been used traditionally as the home and den of cartels. Whereas the new reforms have disrupted horizontal integration, we cannot reform the old cartels and create a new dominant cartel to carry out the same roles that have caused suffering to the farmers. Millers and brokerage firms cannot participate in direct sales. Therefore, we must provide punitive penalties for those who violate the provisions of this law. The financing of coffee production is central to the revival of the coffee business in this country. Therefore, we must establish clear and predictable subsidy programmes for coffee farmers. This sector requires a rebirth and needs to be revived. Therefore, we must take deliberate steps to support coffee farmers better. I congratulate the Kenya Kwanza Government for continuing the Cherry Fund. However, it is paramount that we also craft support for farm inputs and agronomy services. The extension services under the county governments have gone to the dogs. It is imperative for the National Government to intervene or provide clear guidelines for collaboration to support farmers with better agronomy services. The most interesting aspect is the marketing and sales of coffee. In this country, coffee sales and purchase is dominated by about six large companies, which have crowded out any small players who offer them competition. The Nairobi Coffee Exchange must deliberately make way for the small players to purchase small volumes at premium prices and compete in that space. Alternatively, we must create a deliberate path for the small players to directly access the wet mills and the cooperatives to purchase coffee from the farmers. Hon. Temporary Speaker, I support."
}