A coffee farmers lobby group has called for a forensic audit of the farmers payment system ‘Direct Settlement System’ (DSS) citing some are yet to receive their December payment from the auction.
The farmers are calling for the introduction of a second bank to handle the coffee payment systems to end the delay in remitting their payments.
A report by Kenya Coffee Producers Association, calls for introduction of punishment on those sabotaging coffee payment systems, which have resulted in delay.to remit the proceeds to the farmers bank accounts.
“The DSS system has failed to bring efficiency in the settlement of the coffee payments as it has continued to inject pain to the farmers of the delayed transactions,” said Gikonyo.
Association chaired by Peter Gikonyo pleaded for the issuance of the oversight guidelines to the coffee brokerage firms and coffee mills on standards, weight for compliance following increased claims of manipulations.
There are hundreds of farmers yet to receive their coffee proceeds since December 10, when their coffee was sold through the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE), said Gikonyo, calling for investigations to expose the reasons behind the delay.
On milling of coffee, the report demands for a national assessment to examine the available milling capacity focusing at licensing additional coffee plants to address the gap experienced.
” There are coffee mills with leaking roofs that affect the moisture content of the produce while in shortage awaiting milling,” report the report.
On availability of the certified coffee seedlings, the report paints a negative image citing inability by Coffee Research Institute (CRI) to produce, exposing the farmers to illegal coffee nursery operators.
” The government should provide CFI with enough funding to provide a surveillance mechanism for the production of certified coffee seedlings to the farmers in the 33 counties,” read part of the report.
The concerns farmers need addressed include. Introduction of coffee cupping laboratories in the counties.
The government to support coffee farmers to comply with the European Union’s Deforestation Regulations to protect Kenyan coffee from being barred entry into the European markets.