Co-op Bank to handle Meru 30-day coffee cash payment

Co-operative Bank #ticker:COOP is set to handle millions to be paid to Meru coffee farmers under a county government scheme kicking off next April.

Meru County will be paying money due to farmers within 30 days of delivery through societies and buyers under the programme.

Governor Kiraitu Murungi said the county had partnered with the national government to uplift the coffee industry at a cost of Sh400 million.

The farmers will be selling coffee directly to the societies who will pay them the cash for deliveries under a model borrowed from Ethiopia.

Mr Murungi made the announcement during a coffee stakeholders consultative forum on piloting the Ethiopian coffee industry cash model last Friday.

“We are using the pilot project from Ethiopia because the country is the top producer of the commodity in Africa, producing 700,000 metric tonnes,” he said.

Meru co-operatives executive Maingi Mugambi said co-operatives will get the cash from Co-op Bank for distribution to societies and factories in form of soft loans to be recovered from sales.