Read Original Post -Nation By David Muchui

Initiatives by the Meru Central Coffee Cooperative Union (MCCCU) to involve more youth and women in coffee farming to address succession challenges and declining production. One such initiative is ‘Youth in Coffee’, which encourages young individuals like Muthuri Muriungi, who recently received 100 coffee bushes from his parents, to engage in coffee cultivation. Muriungi anticipates earning up to Sh300,000 annually from these bushes.

Approximately a decade ago, MCCCU launched the ‘Women in Coffee’ program to involve more women in coffee farming. This initiative led to significant success, with Kathera Farmers’ Cooperative Society’s annual production more than doubling from 200,000 kilos to over 503,000 kilos, largely due to the participation of about 300 women farmers.

Building on this success, the cooperative is now focusing on youth involvement, aiming to increase production to over one million kilos annually by 2025. Supported by the GIZ Coffee Innovation Fund, the initiative plans to form youth groups to engage in environmental protection, transportation of coffee and inputs, and the promotion of good agricultural practices. Parents are also encouraged to allocate coffee plants to their children to foster early involvement in coffee farming.

The article highlights that engaging youth in coffee farming is seen as a strategy to secure the future of coffee production in Kenya, a major foreign exchange earner for the country. By involving more young people, there is potential to increase exports and enhance the use of technology in coffee farming.

According to the Coffee Directorate, Kenya produced over 51,000 tonnes of coffee in 2022, up from 34,000 tonnes in 2021.