Hon. Irungu Nyakera addressing in a past event in Murang’a
Muranga, 20th December 2021: The Kenya Coffee Platform Muranga branch was officially launched on Friday 17th December 2021, to bring together all the private and public players in the sector in the county, to have Muranga County as the leading coffee producing county in Kenya.
In 2019/2020, Muranga was ranked 3rd top county, behind Kiambu and Kirinyaga. The Launch was attended by representatives from the 44 Coffee Societies and 144 coffee factories that are presently operational in Murang’a County. Irungu Nyakera, the chairperson of the Taskforce for Development & Implementation of Tea Industry Price Stabilization Framework was elected patron of the Muranga Branch.
The Muranga County Coffee platform will be built on a multipronged strategy that will include focusing on boosting production by farmers from the current average of 2kg to 15kg per bush through agronomy & inputs interventions, improving corporate governance in coffee cooperatives, improvement of facilities in processing factories and better prices through direct international buyers and local consumption.
The platform further discussed the need to restructure and reorganize Murang’a Coffee Union to deal with all county coffee issues and create Murang’a Coffee Milling Company that will ease the route to market for cooperatives. Various factories in Muranga County are experiencing financial strain due to legacy indebtedness and they need legal assistance to resolve all their issues.
Speaking during the launch, Irungu Nyakera, who is vying for Muranga County Governor seat in 2022 promised if elected, to provide an extension officer per factory to walk coffee farmers through the coffee revitalization journey. Further, a Kahawa Enterprise Fund would see each of the 44 coffee societies allocated Ksh10M to rehabilitate facilities in coffee factories and provide working capital facilities for operations of coffee societies. Further, every coffee cooperative will be assisted to set up a nursery for the farmers to expand their coffee bushes.
As the new patron of the Muranga County Coffee platform, Irungu Nyakera promised a personal donation of coffee drying beds to 39 coffee cooperative societies and further assist the new chapter to formally register and create internal structures to enrich their offering to coffee farmers in the county.
