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{
    "id": 1472521,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1472521/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 217,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kirinyaga County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Njeri Maina",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Despite the challenges that have been there in the coffee sector, this Bill seeks to address some of the pertinent issues so that coffee farmers can finally enjoy the proceeds of their work. It is worth noting that governance has been a major challenge in the coffee sector. As we discuss and debate the Coffee Bill (Senate Bill No.10 of 2023), it is also important to remember that we must also fast-track as a House the Cooperatives Bill, 2024 that will address most of the issues that occur in the Coffee governance sector. Recently in Kirinyaga County, we saw protests in various cooperatives, notably Kibirigwi Coffee Growers Cooperative and Mutira Farmers’ Co-operative Society, due to governance issues that have denied farmers their dues and loopholes that are exploited to ensure that they do not get what is owed to them. We must go an extra mile to ensure that we push for direct sales so that coffee farmers can market their coffee and sell it directly to any willing buyer, bypassing intermediaries that often manipulate market prices and take advantage of them. We also need to address concerns that coffee co-operatives are facing at the county level in terms of infrastructure, which is the duty of the county. We must also address issues of farm inputs. We know that we had a very robust fertiliser programme, but as I speak, farmers of Kibirigwi Coffee Growers Cooperative do not have the necessary farm inputs to ensure that they are also able to grow the crop and maximise the output on their farms. It is worth noting that Clause 47 introduces a levy, a purported levy, to be paid to the county governments that is supposed to maintain the society factory's infrastructure. However, county governments have proven from time to time that even once they get these funds, they do not have the goodwill to ensure that the funds are applied and not diverted. Currently, county governments have the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP), that is supposed to facilitate agricultural infrastructure and also offer extension officers at the local level to support farmers so that they can increase their output. However, the same is never applied at the county level. We must check some of the issues that have been introduced by the Coffee Bill that will not address the challenges that farmers have been facing. Perhaps the national Government can come to a common ground with the county governments on what duties to be undertaken by national Government and what the county governments have the capacity to do. We must also streamline the sector to ensure that farmers are not exploited merely because perhaps they are not able to read the many documents that are presented during Annual General Meetings (AGMs). Any coffee farmer who has attended an AGM can tell you the tedious documentation and hidden charges in terms of marketing and transport that is charged in dollars whereas it is transport at the local level. All these concerns and bureaucracy involved must be lessened so that the farmer is able to examine any documentation that is presented during the AGMs and be able to make informed decisions when they are giving borrowing power to the societies. In recent times, we have seen protests by coffee farmers arising out of instances where borrowing power has been abused by the societies or co-operatives, where there has been conflict of interest or where some board members also sit in some unscrupulous circles and borrow money purporting to have borrowing authority from the coffee farmers who do not understand the hefty documents that are provided during AGMs. Thereafter mysteriously, the Savings and Credit Co-operatives (SACCOs) collapse. If these pertinent governance issues are not addressed, even if we have robust laws allowing coffee farmers to have direct sale, the farmers will continue to suffer. My colleague, Member for Manyatta Constituency, who is also the Chairperson Kenya Youth Parliamentarians Association (KYPA) and I, will be proposing some of these The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}