Rigathi Gachagua
Kenya and Colombia are set to sign agreements to facilitate knowledge exchange on coffee farming and research, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said on Thursday.
Acknowledging that Colombia is a global top producer of high-quality and premium coffee flavors, the Deputy President said the two nations are preparing to strike a formula that will facilitate cooperation between Kenya’s Coffee Research Institute and its equivalent body in Colombia.
“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) will create a framework for interventions that the government is deploying to restore the coffee sub-sector. Coffee farmers in Colombia are our big brothers,” he said. The MoUs will be signed within the next three months.
The Deputy President spoke at the Official Residence, Karen, when he hosted visiting members of the Colombia National Federation of Coffee Growers and a team working on the Kenya-Colombia Technical Cooperation on the Coffee Value Chain.
“On behalf of our President William Ruto and the government, we are grateful for your visit and for sharing knowledge and insights with our farmers. We hope there will be improvement on yields, research and marketing,” he told the delegation, which has been in the country for five days.
He continued, “on our cooperative movement, we would like it to embrace the model of the Colombia National Federation of Coffee Growers. We are amending the Cooperatives Act to deal with integrity issues and create transparent and accountable systems. A strong cooperative movement is good for the sector, farmers, and the country.”
The Memoranda, DP Gachagua said, will also strengthen the bonds between farmers of the two nations, boost marketing of the Kenyan produce in the international arena, and help to shore up the bilateral relations.
The Deputy President said the partnership of the two nations is part of interventions rolled out by President Ruto-led administration to revive the coffee sub-sector and foster the rural economy since coffee is a crop of smallholder farmers.
Colombian Ambassador to Kenya Pedro Leon Cortes Ruiz said the two nations will collaborate for economic growth.
“Coffee is what we have offered the world for a long time. We are demonstrating we can develop as one. We have also been advancing and building a solid framework working for the good of the two nations. We will continue to offer the best,” said the ambassador.
