The government has allocated Sh500 million in the supplementary budget to facilitate propagation and distribution of coffee seedlings to farmers.
Principal Secretary (PS) for state department for cooperatives Patrick Kilemi said the programme aims to increase production, with 20 million coffee seedlings earmarked for distribution to farmers across all coffee growing regions annually.
Kilemi, speaking in Murang'a where he met coffee farmers on Friday, noted Coffee Research Institute (CRI) and New KPCU will be entrusted with responsibility of propagating seedlings of high yielding coffee varieties.
He stated that coffee production in the country is still low compared to other neighbouring coffee producing nations. "Last year, Kenya produced 50,000 metric tons while Uganda produced 400,000 metric tons and Ethiopia produced 750,000 metric tons of coffee.
