Uasin Gishu Farmers Set to Benefit as State Unveils KES 1 Billion Blueprint to Triple Coffee Output

Coffee farmers in Uasin Gishu County are set to be among the biggest beneficiaries as the Government unveils a KES 1 billion blueprint aimed at tripling coffee production in the North Rift region from the current 50,000 metric tonnes to 150,000 metric tonnes by 2028.

The ambitious revival programme spearheaded by the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs Development targets Uasin Gishu as a key emerging coffee frontier, owing to its fertile soils, favourable altitude, and vast arable land that has traditionally been dominated by maize and wheat farming.

Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya said the Government has set aside KES 1 billion to support cooperative coffee factories and an additional KES 1 billion for the distribution of certified high-yielding coffee seedlings. Uasin Gishu is among the counties earmarked to receive a major share of the seedlings as it seeks to diversify from over-reliance on maize.

According to Oparanya, Kenya’s national production has stagnated at around 50,000 to 51,000 metric tonnes against a potential of over 200,000 tonnes. The new plan aims to increase productivity per tree from the current average of 2 kilogrammes to more than 5 kilogrammes through improved Batian and Ruiru 11 varieties and modern farming technologies.

In Uasin Gishu, the County Government has already started enrolling farmers in Turbo, Kesses, Moiben, Ainabkoi and Soy sub-counties who will receive free seedlings. Agriculture Executive officials say the county intends to enrol thousands of farmers who will receive a minimum of 400,000 coffee seedlings in the first phase, which will be helped to establish and manage by extension officers.

“We are telling our farmers that coffee is the new black gold. In Uasin Gishu, an acre of coffee can earn a farmer over KES 500,000 per year compared to maize which gives less than KES 80,000. This is the crop that will transform livelihoods,” a county agriculture official said.

The new Kenya Planters Cooperative Union Managing Director Timothy Mirugi said Uasin Gishu has huge potential because many farmers are shifting to high-value crops, and coffee factories in the county will be revived and modernized under the KES 1 billion factory support kitty.

President William Ruto has said the Government is also expanding land under coffee nationally from 280,000 acres to 380,000 acres, with Uasin Gishu targeted to add over 10,000 new acres in the next three years. Farmers will also benefit from reforms ensuring payments within five days through the Direct Settlement System and the new digital coffee auction.

For Uasin Gishu youth and women groups, the programme will create jobs across the value chain – from nurseries, to picking, processing and marketing – at a time when youth unemployment is high in Eldoret town.

With the KES 1 billion blueprint, Uasin Gishu is positioning itself to become the next coffee hub of the North Rift, rivaling traditional coffee counties like Kericho and Nandi, and restoring Kenya’s position in the global coffee market.