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Drought cuts Nyeri coffee production to half

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A small-scale farmer picks ripe coffee beans from her farm in Nyeri. PHOTO | FILE

Coffee production has declined by 51.4 per cent as drought persists, Nyeri County Executive Robert Thuo has said.

According to Mr Thuo the production of the crop from six zones has dropped from 35 million kilogrammes entered last year (2015/2016) to 17m kilogrammes (2016/2017).

The picking season was concluded last month, marking the start of a marketing by coffee societies.

Mr Thuo said harsh weather caused low flowering and higher infestation of diseases and pests.

“Coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease caused a 30 per cent rate decline on the crop. Depressed rainfall also interfered with berry expansion and ripening,” he said.

Tetu coffee farmers recorded the highest decline, at 81 per cent with a production level of 1.6 million kilogrammes against last year’s output of 5.9 million kilos.

In Mathira East, farmers produced 8.9 million kilogrammes in the 2015/2016 crop year but dropped to 7.8 million kilogrammes. This resulted in a 13 per cent drop

Mathira West produced 4.3 million kilogrammes last season but dropped by 63 per cent producing 2.4 million kilogrammes.

Mukurwe-ini’s production dropped from 11m kilogrammes to four million kilogrammes.
The drop forced Othaya Coffee Society to merge its four factories to cut costs, according to the society’s chairman James Gathua.