Coffee Production Projected To Fall 15 per cent In 2010

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Kenya’s coffee output is projected to decline by about 15 percent this year to be between 45,000 to 48,000 metric tons from a previous estimate of 57,000 due to heavy rains pounding several parts of the east African nation.

Coffee Board of Kenya Managing Director Louise Njeru said on Wednesday that the country produced 57,000 metric tons of coffee in 2008/09 crop year from 42,000 a year earlier.

"Out of this figure, specialty is currently estimated at 50 percent and should stay about the same.

This year’s forecast will be mainly attributable to climate change and its effects on the bi-annual coffee production cycle," Njeru told journalists in Nairobi.

The volume of coffee produced in the country has been on a decline from a high of 128,000 metric tones in 1987/88 to 42,000 produced in 2007/08.

Njeru said high production costs as well as limited availability of land, labour and water remain key challenges facing the coffee industry in the country.

Kenya sells Arabica beans, used mostly by specialty coffee companies including Starbucks.

However in the recent years, the crop has not been doing well in terms of production and marketing.

At the international scene however, Kenyan Arabica has been blended with coffee from other sources and, as a result, other countries for instance Uganda has overtaken Kenya in the coffee stakes.

To ensure the industry is improved back to where it was in 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Njeru said the government has taken a number of steps to improve the country’s performance as a quality coffee producer.

Since 2006 various reforms have been undertaken with the view of revamping the industry and to large extent assist in fighting grinding poverty currently ravaging bulk of coffee farmers.

"Efforts have been made to increase productivity by small holder farmers through extension services both public and private as well as to increase transparency at the cooperative level," she said.

The government has recognized that lack of readily available credit has prevented coffee growers from implementing improvements in production and post-production, and has therefore established the Coffee Development Fund (CoDF) as a source of grower credit to rehabilitate their coffee trees.

Source name: coastweek.com