REPUBLIC OF KENYA

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

LONG RAINS PLANTING SEASON MESSAGE TO THE FARMING COMMUNITY:

LONG RAINS PLANTING

With the delayed onset of the 2012 long rains and the weather forecast of normal to below normal especially in lower parts of Eastern, North Eastern, parts of Coast, Rift Valley and Central provinces, farmers are advised to plant certified seeds of drought tolerant crops.

These include early maturing varieties maize, millets, sorghum (gadam, sila, seredo and serena), pulses (cowpeas, green grams, dolichos, beans, pigeon peas), root crops (cassava and sweet potatoes) and vegetables for food and nutrition security.

We strongly advise against planting of maize in agro-ecological zone III and above in North Eastern, Eastern, Central, Rift Valley and Coast Provinces.

We advise the use of certified seeds all the time.

Certified seeds are packed in containers/packets which clearly indicate the following; Seed lot number; Packaging date; Name of the crop species; Weight of the seeds and Seed merchant/ company.

In addition, labelling and sealing of the containers/packets are done in such a way that seeds cannot be removed without damaging the seal and label.

You are also advised to use fertilizer and/or manure as recommended for your respective zone.

For more information, please contact:

Ministry of Agriculture Offices in your respective districts.
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Agriculture

Background

Every Tuesday morning in a calendar year, the Coffee Producers (through their Marketing Agents - who represent over 600,000 coffee producers) meet with Coffee Dealers at the trading floor of the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) for trading of coffee.

The auction creates a forum where competitive bidding for coffee occurs therefore the real price for each lot of coffee on offer is discovered due to the large number of buyers present in a transparent manner.

The auction system has fully withstood the test of the times and currently stands out as one of the outstanding mechanism of selling coffee without compromising the prices.

In 2010/2011, over 95% of Kenya coffee worth USD 221.4 million (about Ksh 21 billion) was traded here with the balance being sold through the direct sale. Coffee Growers and the Coffee Dealers finance the operations of the NCE at KSh 20.00 per 60kg bag sold translating to KSh 13.4 million in 2010/11.

Suspension of the Weekly coffee Auction

On Tuesday 13th March 2012, the weekly coffee auction that was expected to trade in over 25,000 bags of coffee worth approximately KSh 640 Million was suspended.

This obviously affects the financial cash flow of coffee producers and will have a ripple effect on the financing of farming operations. In addition, the suspension denies the government the much needed revenue.

Issues Leading to the Suspension of the Coffee Auction Scheduled for Tuesday 13th March 2012

Distribution of Coffee Buying Samples to Coffee Dealers

In order for the auction to run efficiently Coffee Buyers must receive coffee samples at least 8 days in advance in order to analyze them on the basis of quality so that they can make informed choices when bidding.

Some active coffee dealers who number 29 (those who buy over 1000 bags in a year) out of the 80 licensed by the Coffee Board of Kenya have ended up receiving very little sample material or none at all due to the fact that inactive coffee dealers end up taking most of the sample material drawn from the farmers coffee .

This scenario undoubtedly results in lower bids for the coffees on offer to the detriment of the producers.

Trading in Coffee Samples

Distributing coffee samples of 0.25kgs each for each of the 600 lots on offer per auction for 45 auctions in a year to over 50 inactive dealers translates to 337,500kgs valued at Ksh 180 Million loss to the growers annually (using an average Price USD 6.58 per Kg in 2010/11 season).

This means that each of these inactive dealers is able to make Ksh3.6 Million without participating at the trading floor.

This situation cannot therefore be allowed to continue and must be addressed by the relevant authorities.

Some of the inactive dealers have registered more than one company in order to continue profiting from these free samples.

It is important to note that, Growers are in business, and in the hope of realizing better prices for their coffee provide these samples of 14kgs of clean coffee translating to 112kgs of Cherry for every lot of coffee free of charge to the active dealers.

Growers have no objection to the balance of samples being issued to non-active dealer startups in the hope that these too will become active within reasonable timeframes of a few months to maximum one year, failing which it becomes unreasonable and unrealistic to expect the farmers to continue giving away the product of their sweat to “startups” that are well over 1 year old, to continue enriching themselves at their expense.

Growers do not receive free samples for the inputs they use and have to pay upfront getting heavily indebted and most times procuring loans at high interest rates that sometimes result in loss of property and livelihoods!

Release of Coffee Sample Deposit Refunds to Growers

Coffee Marketing Agents have severally without success requested the NCE manager to issue refund cheques on pro rata (depending on volume of coffee sold in 2010 and 2011) for sample deposits from the dealers that did not meet the threshold of coffee trading as per the Trading Rules.

These refunds amounting to over Ksh 10 million are refundable to growers and have not been processed to date.

The manager of the NCE insists that this is part of his income, a position contradicting the Trading Rules on this matter.

Below is an excerpt;

13.The charges, if any, of availing to dealers the offer samples shall be agreed from time to time between marketing agents and the Management Committee of the Association, and will be informed to dealers in writing in advance. These charges shall be deemed the property of the marketing agent and shall be remitted by the Association to the marketing agent on a lot pro-rata basis.

Conclusion

1) Arising from the above issues the Commercial Millers and Marketing Agents Association (CCMMAA) representing the coffee growers and the Kenya Coffee Traders Association (KCTA) representing the coffee buyers met on the 23rd February 2012 in a meeting attended by the Executive Officer of the Nairobi Coffee Exchange and resolved that only the Active Coffee Dealers will receive coffee samples for sale 16 to be held on 13th March 2012.

This was effected and the Marketing Agents and Traders were ready to proceed with the auction on the 13th March 2012 as scheduled.

2) The CCMMAA representing the growers at the auction and the Kenya Coffee Producers Association (KCPA) representing the owners of the coffee remain committed to ensuring the prosperity of the NCE and will participate fully in any effort aimed at restoring the pride of the NCE and will support the Coffee Board of Kenya in the ongoing structural changes of the NCE towards this end.

Meanwhile we appeal to the relevant government institutions to address this crisis as a matter of urgency.

Signed

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

NATIONAL ACCELERATED AGRICULTURAL INPUTS ACCESS PROGRAM (NAAIAP)

AGRICULTURAL CREDIT GUARANTEE SCHEME

Farmers Empowerment towards a Globally Competitive Agriculture

The Government of Kenya, with the assistance of the European Union through the World Bank, has entered into contracts with local financial institutions to leverage the institutions’ resources, thereby encouraging them to avail affordable loans to eligible borrowers to purchase farm inputs and finance other value chain activities.

The scheme will also support other financial services, capacity building and marketing.

Target borrowers: small scale farmers, agro dealers, other agricultural value chain players

Financial institutions/partners: Equity Bank Ltd., Family Bank of Kenya Ltd., Kenya Women Finance Trust and The Cooperative Bank of Kenya Ltd.

Enterprises to be financed: Grains and horticulture

Interest rates: 12% per annum

Source of lending funds: The Government of Kenya has agreed to deposit funds in these financial institutions to the tune of Kshs 500 million. The amount deposited is for leveraging Ksh.5.0 billion to be availed to eligible borrowers by the institutions from within their own
resources.

The Government of Kenya fund is not for lending but will be applied as a risk sharing facility (up to 10% of any proven losses) with the financial institutions. The financial institutions are
expected to apply their lending policies and procedures.

Security: flexible and includes group guarantee, household goods, chattels, tangible security among others

When to access: apply now for 2012 long rains season

Where: at the 4 partner financial institutions’ branches i.e. Equity Bank Ltd., Family Bank of Kenya Ltd., Kenya Women Finance Trust and The Cooperative Bank of Kenya Ltd.

CAUTION:Borrowers must repay back disbursed loans

For more information contact:

1. Your area District Agricultural Officer

2. The 4 financial institutions

3. NAAIAP Secretariat – Nairobi.

Tel: 020 215704 Ext 1158, 020 2400527

Coffee Shop MD Jeremy Block has been fired from the Coffee Board of Kenya.

Agriculture minister William Ruto yesterday said he sacked Block because his membership represents a conflict of interest.

Ruto said Block has an interest in coffee milling.

However, the change is likely to have been influenced by complaints from coffee farmers, especially in Central Province. The minister's announcement came in the wake of a spirited fight by farmers affiliated to Mathira Coffee Millers to have Block sacked.

The farmers accused the Dorman's MD of influencing a decision by the Coffee Board to transfer a milling licence issued to them to two of his own companies.

The farmers, through their chairman Michael Gathitu, had appealed to Ruto to intervene and help them get back their licence from Block.

Gathitu had moved to court on behalf of the farmers seeking orders to stop a company associated with Block — Central Kenya Coffee Mills — from taking over the running of Mathira Coffee Mills.

They have also written to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission requesting that Coffee Board managing director Louise Njeru and Block be probed for allegedly transferring the licence issued to the farmers.

In a letter dated October 21, the farmers said Block influenced the Coffee Board MD to give his (Block's) private company the licence to run Mathira Coffee Mills Factory.

"Having been appointed a director of CBK by the Minister for Agriculture, Block swiftly took advantage and influenced the managing director to change and alter a coffee milling licence owned by farmers from Mathira," said farmers' letter.

The letter signed by vice chairman Kahuho Mathai claimed the Central Kenya Coffee Mills, which was issued with the new licence, is nonexistent.

The letter addressed to the director of KACC and received on October 26 says Block's action is tantamount to misuse of public office.

The farmers have also accused the MD Njeru of misleading the Minister for Agriculture to gazette the contentious licence issued to Block.

They further accuse the MD of allowing herself, despite her standing as a public servant, to be used for personal gain.

Meanwhile, coffee farmers in Mathira want two directors of the Coffee Board to be investigated for corruption and abuse of office.

While announcing the re-placement of Block on Monday, Ruto said his ministry is drafting a bill to streamline operations in the coffee sector.

Ruto was inaugurating the board of directors of Coffee Development Fund and Coffee Research Foundation.

He said the coffee sector needs more reforms to reflect the changing market environment for farmers to maximise profits.

"We intend to reform this sector and one of the reforms is to ensure that a person who is a miller is not at the same time a board member of CBK," Ruto said.

By Geoffrey Mosoku

The Horn of Africa is in the grip of the worst drought for 47 years. Some 23 million people are threatened with starvation. When you see children on TV with distended bellies keening over their dying parents, it would be inhuman not to be moved to tears. But do them a favour. Sit on your hands.

African aid organisations have been in the grip of a hysterical number inflation game since the hideous images of the Ethiopian famine were brought to our screens 25 years ago today by the BBC's Michael Buerk. For every year that has passed the scale of Africa's problems seem to have grown.

Aid organisations and the media have inflated the scale of subsequent horror, regardless of the truth. This year the International Rescue Committee released data from its Democratic Republic of the Congo mortality survey. "Congo's war and aftermath have killed 5.4 million," The Washington Post yelled, quoting the IRC. Humbug.

The IRC isn't deliberately lying, neither was the Post. But the idea. that 5.4 million people have died as a result of war in Congo is nonsense. It needs to be peddled to help to generate funds to relieve the real and hideous suffering of Congo's population, but nonsense it remains. As the IRC admits: "Less than 10 per cent of all deaths were due to violence, with most attributed to easily preventable and treatable conditions such as malaria, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition."

The IRC is saying, really, that the Congolese are dying because they are poor. Recent work by Andre Lambert and Louis Lohle-Tart shows that the rising mortality rate predates the wars there. But combine "war" with "millions dead" and you have a donation-winning headline. We all do it. We use statistics to highlight the horrors in Africa to drive home the unbelievable scale of the continent's problems. But that's the problem: the scale has become unbelievable.

Twenty-three million? From my experience of two decades' reporting from Africa, I can say with absolute confidence that this is humbug. Did anyone count them? No.

Oxfam says 3.8 million Kenyans, more than 3.8 million Somalis, and 13.7 million Ethiopians "need aid". Implicit in this is that they could perish through lack of food. In Kenya it might be possible to make this guess. But in Somalia, which has been in a state of anarchy since 1991?

But even if 23 million people do face starvation, please don't reach for your cheque book. Foreign aid is the principal reason for Africa's accumulated agony.

According to Oxfam: "Food aid saves lives, but it crowds out other ... initiatives that support communities' strategies to prevent the next drought from becoming a disaster." Exactly. If we send help now, we'll be killing more people later because more people will be bred and no one will think to save any crops to feed them.

Kenya is having a terrible time. But it would not be doing so if the breadbasket in the west of the country had not been torn apart by ethnic violence. If the agricultural outreach programmes, which helped farmers to improve productivity through the 1960s and 1970s, had not collapsed, if the government's milk and beef marketing system was not ruined by corruption then Kenya would feed itself even in times of drought.

Oxfam reveals in its latest paper, Band Aids and Beyond, that between 70 and 92 per cent of US aid to Ethiopia has been food aid — and almost all of that was the surplus product of American farms. So Ethiopia has had no need to feed itself.

Worse still, Ethiopia and Eritrea spent billions that should have been used to develop self-sufficiency between 1998 and 2000 on a border war over a mess of barren rocks. They could do this because we in the wealthy North fed the populations of both countries.

So, what to do? For an answer I turn to Birham Woldu, who survived the (man-made) 1984 famine in Ethiopia.

"Constantly shipping food from places like the US is costly, uneconomic, and can encourage dependency," she writes in the Oxfam report. "We are a big country and when there is famine in one part of the country, there is plenty in another. So we need better infrastructure and communications to move food around to where it is needed. Above all we need education."

If they want to badly enough, the Ethiopians can sort out their own roads. So that leaves education. We can help Africans to help themselves by donating to charities that ring-fence funding for education. If they don't do it, don't give. Mark all cheques "not for food" if you have to.

With education Africans can and will rid themselves of the corrupt leaders that we have kept in power through foreign aid for decades. Educated Africans will bring an end to a dangerous cycle of humbug.

Kiley is a former Africa bureau chief of The Times