Will online auctions quell storms brewing in tea, coffee sectors?
Wednesday January 27 2021
Summary
For decades, Kenya’s main commodity markets have been running on a manual platform with the arrival of the final price shrouded in secrecy.
It was a practice that bred discontent among farmers who watched as their earnings dipped one crop season after another.
Some, feeling short-changed by the system, cut down their crops in protest, prompting the State to seek alternative platforms that would boost transparency in the commodities trade.
For decades, Kenya’s main commodity markets have been running on a manual platform with the arrival of the final price shrouded in secrecy. It was a practice that bred discontent among farmers who watched as their earnings dipped one crop season after another.
Coffee prices at the auction opened the new year on a high note with a 50-kilogramme bag fetching Sh35,970 from Sh34,000 recorded in the last sale of 2020.
The Tea Act, 2020 easily ranks as a major achievement of the sector, especially the farmer who expects to grow earnings when the reforms kick in in the near future.