Baringo County coffee farmers had a reason to smile after they were issued with seedlings by World Best Friend, a non-governmental organisation from the Korean Republic at Baringo Cha coffee mill in Katimok Baringo North on Tuesday. The programme, worth a total of five million shillings, targets to provide around 500,000 coffee seedlings to be distributed to farmers across the region. Speaking during the launch and distribution exercise, Governor Benjamin Cheboi challenged the farmers to invest in the lucrative cash crop as an income-generating venture as a potential way to create sustainable wealth. Governor Cheboi noted that his administration is keen on bringing on board and working with donors for the sole purpose of promoting agriculture to transform the economy of the county especially during the tough economic period. ‘Our aim is to increase coffee revenue from Sh100 million to 3billion in the next 3-4 years and it will be upon you to plant more of the coffee today and in the future for the county to achieve the targets,’ he added. The county government has promised to market and export the coffee products for the farmers to the Koreans and other available markets abroad to enhance the growth of the national GDP. Rev Cha Boyong, the Chairman of World Best Friend, pointed out that the NGO had also commissioned a running mill two years ago and it’s upon the farmers to take up the challenge and embrace coffee farming as it will enable farmers to add value to their products. He urged the co-operative societies in the region to seize such opportunities to plant more coffee trees as they have an operational coffee mill to process the harvested berries ready for the overseas market.
Source: Kenya News Agency