The new Kenya Planters Cooperative Union has distributed Sh. 5 billion in cherry fund loans to 371,242 farmers  who are benefiting from low-interest rates and improved management systems.

The amount lent in the period ending August 5, 2024, jumped 354.5 % from the mid-November 2023.

Managing Director Timothy Mirugi said the increase was because these loans don’t require collateral and are quite easy to apply for.

Through the Co-operative Bank-managed Direct Settlement System, farmers benefit in the form of speedy disbursements and recovery.

The system ended the delays in payment to farmers as a new system introduced as part of the newly drafted rules of coffee trading took place under the watchful eye of the Capital Markets Authority. By October 2023, Sh. 1.5 billion will have been recovered using the DSS.

“As of November  14, 2023, the farmers had borrowed Sh. 1.1 billion. New KPCU in collaboration with other stakeholders have aggressively undertaken sensitization sessions with farmers countrywide on the importance of borrowing the fund,” Director Timothy Mirugi stated.

In the past nine months, 371,242 farmers have borrowed Sh. 5 billion, up from Sh. 3.9 billion in November 2023.

Seven Mount Kenya counties take up 58% of the total at Sh. 2.9 billion. Nyeri County takes the lead, with 70,660 coffee growers having borrowed Sh. 701.1 million, followed by Kirinyaga, where 70,353 farmers borrowed Sh. 566.7 million.

In counties like Kiambu, Murang’a, Embu, Meru, and Tharaka Nithi, 109,152 farmers borrowed Sh. 557.9 million, Sh. 482.8 million, Sh. 330 million, Sh. 254.2 million, and Sh. 39.5 million, respectively.

Farmers in Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Migori, Nyamira, Baringo, and Kisii received a total of Sh. 582.7 million, reaching approximately 19,963 farmers.

During the period between 29th July and 5th August, the new KPCU spent Sh. 69.2 million for 5,370 farmers across 14 counties.

Machakos County had the highest number of farmers at 4915, who received Sh. 45.9 million.

“The highest disbursement to specific farmers’ cooperative society was to Mukuyuni where 879 farmers benefitted from a cherry advance of Sh. 13.8 million at the rate of Sh. 40 per kg of cherry,” Mirugi confirmed.

During the 124th Session of the International Coffee Organization at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi in March 2019, former President Uhuru Kenyatta introduced a Sh. 3 billion revolving fund to boost the coffee sector.

President William Ruto has advised coffee cooperatives to avoid commercial bank loans and instead use the Coffee Cherry Advance Revolving Fund.

This fund aims to offer affordable, sustainable, and accessible loans specifically for smallholder coffee farmers with up to 20 acres of coffee land.