Worrisome: Falling coffee output alarms stakeholdersSasini Group Chairman Naushad Merali presents a trophy to an official of one of the coffee farmers cooperatives at the firm's 13th farmers field day in Kiambu County last Friday. According to Sasini Group – a key stakeholder in the field, the country’s annual coffee production has drastically gone down to about 40,000 tonnes from 130,000 tonnes per annum. Despite the current gloomy outlook for the sector, Merali urged farmers to increase production, saying prices are likely to improve next year. But according to the giant Kirinyaga County Cooperative Union, the new measures would disadvantage farmers while pushing up the cost of production. “Revenue from commercial agriculture as a proportion of the market value of agriculture sector output fell steeply from 27 per cent in 2013 to 16 per cent in 2018,” said the study report.

Source: Standard Digital December 08, 2019 22:07 UTC