By EDDY NYADWA NAIROBI – Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya on Thursday announced the introduction of five government sponsored bills that’s he says seeks to reform agriculture improve farmers income.
The new Coffee bill seeks to re- introduce levies which had previously been done away with. According to Munya, the proposed two per cent levy on gross sales of all coffee, will be remitted to the Coffee Research Institute to support research.
“There will also be a two percent buyers’ levy which will be split into two with one percent going to support the Board’s regulatory functions and another one will go to coffee growing counties to support coffee development,” he said.
The bill also proposes a four per cent coffee import levy calculated on the customs value of the coffee, to be remitted to the Board to support coffee promotion and marketing activities.
The new bills are: Coffee Bill, 2020; Fibre Crops Development Authority Bill, 2020; Food Crops Development Bill 2020; Horticulture Crops Authority Bill, 2020; and Miraa, Pyrethrum, and Industrial Crops Bill 2020.
Agriculture stakeholders and the general public now have 21 days for public participation to give recommendations and views on the five new bills.
According to the Ministry, since the establishment of the Agriculture and Food Authority six years ago, key value-chains, such as coffee, tea, sugar and pyrethrum, have not received adequate attention.
Munya says there has been a challenge in regulating all crops under a single agency, AFA, making it difficult to design an acceptable Stakeholder Council for multiple crops.
The proposed bills seek to involved county governments as well as introduce focus and clarity in the management of the various crop value-chains.
