Kenyans struggle with rain and bureacracy


18 March 1998


Kenyans struggle with rain and bureacracy


BAD weather and “bureaucratic inertia” is making life difficult for Kenyas coffee producers.


The wet weather is probably a short-lived handicap but could nevertheless lead to the lowest ever harvest. A long spell of dry weather is needed if trees are to produce good flowering.


And while many coffee farmers get to grips with the weather, others are starting to question why they are legally required to pay 6% of their gross revenues to the Kenyan Coffee Board. They see little benefit from a controlled marketing board when the government promised six years ago to fully liberalise the industry.


  • Financial Times 18/03/98 page 49

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