How to make coffee farming attractive to the youth

Steps should be taken to make coffee farming attractive to the youth, a task force has said.

The average age of a coffee farmer is 60 years.

In one of the proposals that would see many youths lured into farming, the task force recommended the establishment of a coffee business school at Utalii College.

"The school will train the youth on roasting, retail and management of coffee houses," a report by the task force partly read.

It also suggested incentives for young people so that they can engage in coffee business. "The youth should be encouraged to participate in coffee farming mostly in more lucrative direct sales market," the team said.

The task force asked the Government to waive import duty on commercial coffee house equipment.

The team also told the Government to support value addition initiatives such as coffee vending, coffee kiosks and youth-owned coffee shops.

If the proposed reforms are carried out, the task force envisages that production would increase significantly with smallholders' yields rising from two kilogrammes of cherry per tree to eight-kilogramme tree within two to three years.

It is also expected that smallholder production would increase from 34,000 metric tonnes to about 90,000 metric tonnes within the same period. Turning around of the once lucrative sector would also see the country earn in excess of $300 million (over Sh30 billion) per year in forex earnings.

Farmer participation

"It is also important that there is a direct farmer participation in milling and marketing. This would ensure the role of middlemen is minimised," the report read. The task force also noted the low consumption of coffee in the country with the team suggesting that the Government should explore the possibilities of enhancing its consumption at the national level.

Underlining the lost opportunities in the coffee sector, the task force noted that there was untapped domestic and global market, which should be exploited to give farmers more income.

On direct coffee sales, which were actualised by the passing of the Finance Act of 2005, the task force said most growers were yet to supply the required market consistently.