NAIROBI, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's coffee production is projected to hit approximately 51,000 metric tons in 2023, which is similar compared to the data achieved in 2022 as the area under cultivation has remained the same, according to a government official.
Benson Apuoyo, acting director of the Coffee Directorate at the Agriculture and Food Authority, said Tuesday in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that the area under the crop remains stable at 108,000 hectares.
"The coffee farmers' output will remain steady as the conversion of coffee growing areas to real estate has been compensated by expansion of coffee cultivation in new regions of the country," Apuoyo said during a coffee industry stakeholders forum.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, coffee is one of the leading sources of foreign exchange after horticulture, tea, and diaspora remittances.
Apuoyo revealed that the government has rolled out a number of reforms including the provision of subsidized fertilizer and low-cost loans in a bid to expand output to at least 81,000 metric tons annually by the end of 2024.
Kello Harsama, principal secretary in the State Department for Crop Development in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, said that Kenyan-grown Arabica coffee has high demand in the global market because it is used to blend coffee from the rest of the world.
Harsama observed that about two-thirds of the country's production is under smallholder farmers while the rest is cultivated in large plantations.
