Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua on Thursday evening made a brief stop-over in Dubai, for a fact-finding mission on how to ensure the ongoing reforms in the agriculture sector bear fruits, by making Kenyan coffee, tea and milk produced by local farmers richer and more competitive on the global stage.
Gachagua visited the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) to also understand and explore possibilities of using the marketplace to benefit Kenyan farmers.
”From the visit of the Tea Centre, Coffee Centre, Al Khaleej Sugar Company, it was clear: Value addition diversifies products to reach niche and richer markets for higher returns. This is the route we are pursuing while working with our local and international partners,” DP Gachagua said on Thursday, while on his way back home from Italy.
The Deputy President was accompanied by Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi, the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Kirinyaga Senator Kamau Murango, Ambassador Peter Mwendwa- the Consul General, Dubai, and Northern Emirates, among other officials.
Through Executive Order 1 of 2023, President William Ruto tasked the Deputy President with turning around the fortunes of farmers in the Coffee, Tea and Dairy subsectors.
Last month on July 6th and 7th Gachagua convened the Tea Conference in Kericho County after holding the Coffee Summit in Meru earlier, in June. The Summits, attended by almost 1 million local farmers in both sectors were meant to bring respective stakeholders together to agree on the best intervening measures to make the sectors profitable to the farmers.
