Agriculture minister calls on CIC to look for better markets

AGRICULTURE and Livestock Minister John Simon has called on the Coffee Industry Cooperation (CIC) to look for a better market for coffee growers.
Simon said this on Thursday at Poroma in Southern Highlands, during the Poroma Potato project launch.
He said CIC needed to be with the people and look at ways to help growers and promote the commodity.
Simon said the coffee export price was around K11 or K12 and growers needed to be paid better than what they were getting at present.
He said the role of the CIC was to look for markets and help growers sell their beans for a good price.
He said the Government had given K50 million to the department and funding was distributed to its agencies.
Simon said the Fresh Produce Development Agency (FPDA) received a share of K3 million to promote agriculture and the Poroma potato project was a result of this initiative.
He said if FPDA could utilise the funding to produce a result then other organisations could do the same.
“Look at coffee buyers on roadsides who are cheating our people with the coffee prices,” Simon said.
“This is where I want CIC to be there to find a suitable market where growers can sell their coffee,” he said.
Simon said once growers were satisfied with the prices, they would continue to grow coffee.
He said with the current dry season Brazil, one of the world’s major coffee producing countries, was affected and the price of coffee had risen.
He called on CIC to help coffee growers earn more for their coffee beans and develop the commodity in the country.
He said CIC needed to be proactive in this regard.