President Uhuru Kenyatta tours the New KCC factory/PSCU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 20 – President Kenyatta has directed Trade and Industrialization Peter Munya to start restructuring Kenya Farmers Association and Kenya Planters Co-operative Union for the benefit of farmers.
Speaking at Kenyatta International Convention Centre during the Ushirika Day Celebrations 2019 Uhuru said the two corporates should restructure to increase production.
“I direct the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Co-operatives to fast-track the formulation of the National Co-operative Policy and immediately operationalize the proposed Sacco Societies Fraud Investigation Unit (SSFIU) within the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA),” said the President.
He further directed Munya to fast track investigation into the stalled operations of the two organizations to safeguard members contribution.
“Our goal as government is to serve as facilitators and enablers, to clear the path for co-operatives so that they and their members can realize their full potential,” he adds.
The KPCU has also fallen victim of corruption activities leading to the poor performance of the organization.
It is a wholly-owned Famers institution which has 700,000 small scale farmers represented by over 300 Co-operatives and about 2,000 Estate farmers owning small, medium and large-scale farms.
On the other end, the Kenya Farmers Association is also a body that holds both large scale and small-scale farmers.
Under these two bodies, Tea and coffee farmers stand to be the majority.
Kenya’s coffee and tea are still hailed as being among the best in the world and they are also among the country’s biggest foreign exchange earners with millions of Kenyans depend on them for a livelihood.
Last financial year, 2019, the value of tea exported for the January- November period grew by Sh8.9 billion, fresh data by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
It reflected that the value of green leaf exports grew to Sh129.05 billion compared to Sh120.13 billion over the same period last year.
Over the period, coffee exports hit 42,368 tonnes, an increase of 860.57 tonnes compared to 41,507.43 tonnes recorded in 2017.
