Kenya coffee industry endorses the "Sauti ya Kahawa" platform

Leading Kenyan coffee industry players have overwhelmingly endorsed the formation of the Kenya Coffee Platform, aptly named “Sauti ya Kahawa” in Swahili. This inclusive initiative aims to bring together all the major links of the coffee supply chain to discuss and implement a wide range of initiatives for the Kenyan coffee sector.

The Kenyan coffee sector faces a multitude of problems and constraints, which has led to a persistent decline in the volumes of coffee produced in the country over the recent years. To address these issues, the Africa Fine Coffee Alliance (AFCA), UTZ and Solidaridad East and Central Africa held consultations and pledged support in forming the collaborative platform. In the initial stages, the three organizations formed the technical committee to kick-start the process.

The Global Coffee Platform, AFA Coffee Directorate and Commodities Fund are also incorporated into the technical committee and they proposed the composition of an all-inclusive steering committee with the mandate of overseeing the implementation of the platform work plan. The steering committee membership has representation from the Council of Governors, Ministry of Agriculture, Coffee Directorate, Ministry of Cooperatives, The National Task Force on the coffee sub-sector and the leading private-sector association representing the farmers, marketers, exporters, civil society organizations, donors and other coffee partners.

The talks have recently resulted in action; Kenya is establishing an elaborate coffee platform with sustainable productivity as their main vision. A series of stakeholder sensitization meetings have been planned, the first of which took place in July 2017.

Learn more about Solidaridad programmes in East & Central Africa.

 

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