Kenya is renowned for producing quality arabica coffee beans; just this year coffee from Gikanda Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Nyeri County, central Kenya, scored the highest mark in a Fairtrade cupping event, during the Speciality Coffee Association America (SCAA) event in Atlanta.
However, over the past few years, the value of the crop is just not going back to the people who produce coffee and farmers have reached crisis point. Kenya’s coffee farmers have grown desperate, with increasing reports of widespread thefts committed by cartels, on top of unfair trading practices, low prices, restrictive policy frameworks and diminishing financial returns. And this is bad news for the economy. Whilst in the 1990s, coffee was one of Kenya’s biggest foreign export earners, bringing in $500m (£374m) in income, in 2015, it fell to less than $150m (£112m).
In response to the failings of the industry, President Uhuru Kenyatta recently appointed a national taskforce. Fairtrade welcomed the president’s efforts to do more for smallholder farmers under the new reforms, which have been specifically tasked with increasing benefits to producers. As part of their investigations this year they have uncovered many problems facing farmers, from high input prices and delays on payments, to the costs of borrowing and lack of training to improve farming methods. And agricultural extension services are particularly important at a time when climate change is threatening the delicate conditions required to grow arabica coffee.
Following consultations earlier this year, in June the taskforce published a range of proposed reforms, including a new code of practice and the recommendation that growers will be allowed to directly trade their coffee, which could cut out middlemen and increase the opportunity for certified coffees to be sourced directly.
Whilst these are welcome suggestions, a group of Fairtrade farmers representing co-operatives in eight counties have raised a number of concerns about other aspects of the reforms, particularly around the grading, pricing and transportation of coffee. Farmers are disappointed that during the consultation phase their views were not appropriately represented and say many of the clauses in the proposed legislation won’t work for smallholders.
At a meeting held two weeks ago, the farmers said they were particularly concerned that proposed penalties will apply the same rate across the supply chain, which is grossly unfair when those earning the least are penalised at the same rate as traders. They propose that penalties must be in proportion to the scale of responsibility and value earned from coffee. Many of these reforms present great risks to the competitiveness of their coffee and are threatening their livelihoods even further, at a time when coffee farmers are already at rock bottom.
However, thanks to Fairtrade, thousands of farmers have been able to make ends meet. The system has also helped to drive the national economy forward, with sales of Fairtrade certified coffee in Kenya reaching in excess of €8m (£6.7m) over the past five years. On top of this, €500,000 (£421,000) has been invested into the development of local communities.
Through Fairtrade Premium, democratic committees within co-operatives have chosen to invest in the improvement of education facilities, healthcare provision, business improvement, agricultural training and conservation. At Gikanda, for example, the community has benefitted from investment in a local primary school and health centre, and farmers have received additional training in climate management and agricultural support to make them less reliant on pesticides. Co-operative members have also received training in business management, helping them to grow their businesses, and improve efficiency and quality.
But despite this support, like others in the industry, Fairtrade farmers are affected by many of the current challenges in the sector. They want a say in how the taskforce can address the power imbalance against Kenya’s 700,000 smallholder farmers and in favour of a concentration of dealers and marketing agencies who currently take the greater share of coffee. Not doing so threatens to damage the potential future trade of one of our nation’s most valuable but precarious cash crops.
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