Fires and blockades: A strange situation for some Kenyan coffee farmers

Some protests in Kenya have taken a fiery turn after a number of incensed coffee farmers based in the Othaya district of the country burnt around 100 bags of freshly harvested coffee.

The reason?

Police and other officials were trying to force them to sell the coffee to one particular milling and processing company.

Roughly 500 farmers, the majority associated with Kagere Coffee Factory, argued that they should be allowed to sell their produce freely. These claims fell on deaf ears.

“We want a split,” said Charles Mania, who is the Kagere Factory chairman.

“We have been oppressed for many years and being paid [much less than] our neighbours in Gachatha.”

Mania claimed that the farmers’ rates were just KSh30 per kg, compared to KSh80 per kg paid by the main factory in Gachatha.

But it is here where this story takes a decidedly weird turn.

Three lorries were eventually given the okay to make the 85km journey south to Thika, where Othaya based farmers wanted to sell their coffee. But only one made it.

Two lorries were stopped en route in the town of Karatina where they were towed to a nearby police station and held.

Aggrieved coffee farmers then disrupted parts of the Othaya-Nyeri road in protest at this action with some even blockading the police station in question.

The issue was only resolved when Mary Wambui, the MP for the Othaya region, became involved.

“The leaders from this region need to sit down and chart the way forward for the coffee matters since this is going overboard,” she is quoted as saying in The Star.

The Karatina police boss, Stephen Munoni, attempted to downplay the event, stating that the vehicles transporting the coffee was intercepted to ensure that their transit licences were valid.

picture: Marc Nijdam (used under creative commons)