Coffee farmers in Nyeri County are set to earn less as prolonged drought revenged bushes.
Delay of October short rains have caused berries to wither in Kirichu. Godfrey Muthodu, a farmer at Gachika says mature crops have already dried up on his farm amid lack of enough rain for the last three seasons.
“I retired from my job recently. I have been depending on my crop where I harvest over three thousand kilograms of raw cherry each year but as the matter stand today, I have only managed 300 kilos from early crop, am at loss since the reminder of the crop has started to wither due to lack of rain am afraid, I must sell nothing more,” said Muthondu.
Coffee crops usually mature during the months of October followed by harvesting from October to December. Unless it rains, farmers expect little or no harvests, which they say will impact their purchasing powers.
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“Each day we find lories transporting food to far flung areas in Laikipia and North-Eastern what many do not understand is that we are also faced with drought even here in Nyeri,” said Muthondu.
Nyeri county is known for its coffee that is blended with other coffees around the world.
Although production of the crop has been on an onward trend, experts are warning global warming could impact the crop with a big detriment on the Kenyan economy.
SOURCE: Capital business
