Coffee Farmers Count Losses As Sale Stalls
From: businessdailyafrica.com
Farmers have incurred heavy losses after the Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) postponed the auction for a second time in a row after the Ministry of Agriculture failed to gazette a notice extending the current regulations.
The Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) said it could not conduct the auction yesterday because the gazette notice that extends the regulations, which were to expire in June, has not been published.
“As farmers, we already have existing contracts with marketing agents, and we have released our coffee to them for sale. The delay in selling coffee means increased economic loss to the farmer,” said Kenya Coffee Producers Association (KCPA) chairman Peter Gikonyo.
The Ministry of Agriculture had said it would gazette the regulations last week, but this was not done. Coffee marketers have refused to trade under the guidelines issued by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) last week extending the trading rules under the Crops Act.
