Othaya farmers to earn Sh125 per kilo of coffee

Farmers affiliated to Othaya Co-operative Society in Nyeri have received a record pay of Sh125.40 per kilogram of coffee making them the highest-paid in the county despite jitters over the delayed payment.

The produce was delivered to Ichamama factory for last year’s harvest.

This is Sh12 more than the farmers received last year. Six factories paid farmers over Sh120 per kilo of coffee.

The co-operative with 13 factories has in the last few months been locked in controversy over allegations of misappropriation and embezzlement of farmers' money.

But the co-operative chairman James Gathua said it is routine for the management to pay farmers at this time as the payout is determined by the completion of parchment sales.

With the changing weather patterns, Mr Gathua said it takes time for their marketer to offset their coffee to different buyers both at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange and direct sale to overseas countries.

He noted that while some farmers sold their coffee and released rates in February this year, his growers were still on their farms picking the berries.

“We are not late as we normally pay farmers around this time. The process and operations have been interfered with by a few individuals whose sole aim is to pit the farmers against the management,” he said.

He termed calls by a section of farmers from the society for the government to conduct an inquiry after an inspection report found that the co-operative had misused farmers' funds as “malicious and baseless.”

The farmers had planned to demonstrate over the claims but did not after interventions by the county government.

On the same breath, Mr Gathua said the consistency with their market has contributed to the high pay realized by the farmers coupled with the quality of coffee produced.

The co-operative sells its coffee through the Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporter (KCCE) which sold 60 percent of its collections to overseas countries while the rest was channeled through the coffee exchange in Nairobi.

A 50 kg bag of parchment fetched about $550 in the direct market and at $278 for the same quantity and quality at the Nairobi Coffee Exchange.

Premium grades such as AA, AB, B, and PB fetched the highest price in the market as they were highly sought after.

“Our greatest challenge was having to withdraw our coffee from the auction because the prices being offered for premium grades was dismal which meant the marketer had to look for better prices elsewhere,” he stated.

Aided by slightly favourable weather, the farmers produced more than three million kilos compared to 1.4 million kilos achieved in the preceding year.

“The weather was both good and bad… at some point, the flowering was not good because it was too dry,” he noted.

Further, Mr Gathua lamented that some local politicians were trying to discredit their work while lying to the farmers about funds embezzlement.

“Could we have achieved such payment if the cooperative was in a mess?” he asked.

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