By Fred maingi
President William Ruto has challenged Kenyans to abandon the culture of exporting raw coffee beans and embrace value addition as the key to prosperity. Speaking during the Nairobi International Trade Fair, Ruto said Kenya must roast, package, and brand its coffee locally to capture more value, create jobs, and increase farmer incomes.
His remarks echoed sentiments by Cooperatives Principal Secretary Patrick Kilemi who represented cabinet secretary Oparanya during this year’s International Coffee Day, where he emphasized that reforms like the Direct Settlement System (DSS), which has channelled over KSh 9.5 billion directly to farmers, and the Coffee Bill, which guarantees them at least 80% of their coffee’s value, are only the first step. The real transformation, Kilemi noted, will come when Kenya builds a domestic coffee culture and invests in local processing.
Both leaders stressed that for Kenya to truly benefit from its premium coffee, farmers and processors must stop relying on raw bean exports and instead focus on value-added products such as roasted coffee, cascara tea, branded blends, and other innovations that put Kenyan coffee on global shelves under Kenyan names.