LETTERS: Can intercropping revive ailing coffee sector?

A farmer tends his coffee crop at Kienjaini Village in Nyeri County. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI

Kenya is struggling to revive its ailing coffee sub-sector, which has registered a 66 percent drop in production in the past 20 years. Recently a prioritisation of key value chains by Tegemeo Institute placed coffee among top three priority crops for the Ministry of Agriculture funding. This indicates the commitment to revamp the once lucrative sector.

Currently, 95 percent of Kenya’s coffee farms grow coffee as a monocrop. But based on recent proposals, more farmers may decide to intercrop with macadamia trees. In recent decades, the negative effects of coffee monocropping have become familiar to specialists.

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