![\"Farmers](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farmerstrend.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Farmers-Welcome-Kenya-Colombia-Partnership-in-Boosting-Coffee-Reforms.jpeg?resize=640%2C578&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nCoffee farmers have welcomed the government\u2019s move to scale up reforms and development in the sub-sector through a knowledge-sharing programme with their colleagues from Colombia, one of the leading top producers of coffee globally.<\/p>\n
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The farmers, together with members of the visiting Colombia National Federation of Coffee Growers, on Wednesday toured the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) in Ruiru, Kiambu county, for a day-long familiarisation\u00a0visit on farming practices for the crop.<\/p>\n
During the tour at KALRO-CRI, the teams were trained on the research process, coffee propagation, selection for coffee berry disease resistance varieties, varietal conversion, coffee establishment (land preparation and field planting), management of coffee canopy and soil fertility management.<\/p>\n
They were also taught about identification and management of coffee diseases, pests and the insects\u2019 management practices.<\/p>\n
On the Kenya-Colombia partnership in the coffee value chain, Mr Ngone said: \u201cColombia has a coffee growing model which we should adopt. Kenyan farmers visited Colombia last year and learnt from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commending Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over his leadership in the coffee sub-sector reforms agenda, he urged farmers to be patient since the government wants to restore the agricultural sector as a major source of livelihood.<\/p>\n
The farmers called for closer collaboration between coffee researchers in Kenya and Colombia.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarmers\u2019 aspiration is that the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) is revived fully and funded to execute its duty in research,\u201d Mr John Mutwiri said.<\/p>\n
The peer-to-peer learning is a follow-up of the Deputy President\u2019s visit to Colombia last September, where he pushed for advanced cooperation between the two nations to boost yields and income for Kenyan coffee farmers.<\/p>\n
Mr Hector Santos Galvis, a board member of Colombia National Federation of Coffee Growers and director of the organisation\u2019s affairs, said Kenya and Colombia farmers share various farming practices and collaboration can lead to increased production of coffee beans.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo scientists and researchers at the Coffee Research Institute and farmers, we can do much together to address coffee diseases, climate change, use new technologies and genetic trapping. We share a lot. Like you, in Colombia we have three harvesting seasons depending on the rain patterns,\u201d said Mr Galvis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came here to learn from you and share knowledge,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Citing similarities between farmers of the two nations, he said \u2018coffee is a crop of smallholder farmers and middle families\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be diligent in separating the high and optimum quality from the low grade. We also need quality machines for grading, milling and processing. We need to reduce harvest losses, control pests and diseases. Most of the varieties in Colombia are disease resistant. We should build quality together,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Director-General of Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KARLO), Prof Dr Eliud Kiplimo Kireger, said Kenya Coffee industry is faced by a number of challenges, such as climate change, price volatility and high cost of production, among others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are addressing these challenges through research by developing appropriate technologies and recommendations to mitigate. This forum enables us to review and cross-match our activities to those of a peer country \u2013 Colombia. Indeed, Kenya and Colombia share a lot in the coffee industry including approach to research, which makes collaboration between the two countries desirable,\u201d said Dr Kireger.<\/p>\n
In a speech read on his behalf by Dr Zachary Kinyua, a director at KALRO, Dr Kireger said that to combat coffee diseases in Kenya, researchers at KARLO have developed and released two disease-resistant varieties, namely Ruiru 11 and Batian, as a way of reducing the costs of production.<\/p>\n