WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-08-02 Time: 07:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Mwaniki Wahome
Nairobi – Coffee farmers are grappling with the possibility that Kenya Planters’ Co-operative Union will go completely under since there has been no word from the government on a rescue plan promised last year.
Its action of putting a caveat on the union’s assets last week to prevent their being auctioned off has not calmed fears that even worse days for the premier coffee marketing and milling body lie ahead.
Kenya Planters’ Co-operative Union’s assets were set to be sold on Friday this week over a debt of Sh644 million owed to KCB Group.
It has also emerged that the regulator’s decision to deny the union a milling licence for this year prompted the receiver managers to announce an auction of the assets.
Coffee Board of Kenya issued a statement in May stating that KPCU was not authorised to mill or market coffee for failure to pay the licence fee.
Last week, according to insiders familiar with the matter, CBK sent a Sh65 million demand note for unpaid fees. There has been a running dispute with the union which claims that the regulator also owes them some money.
On Wednesday last week, CBK advertised for auditors to help reconstruct its accounts, and its not known whether this will affect the account with KPCU.
Denial has derailed business
“The denial of a licence has derailed business at a time when we are supposed to be receiving coffee from the farmers. We had a target of 150,000 bags this year,” said an officer not authorised to talk to press on behalf of the union.
The union has the advanced milling machines capable of handling large volumes which enables it to mill coffee for some of its competitors.
Experts warn that should the KPCU flagship building be auctioned off together with two others adjacent, there would be a possibility of mills owed by the union applying to sell off milling machines and warehouses.
“The government should intervene and have the debts cleared, otherwise farmers are likely to suffer under private millers and marketers,” said Fredrick Ndeti, chairman of private coffee growers in Ukambani.
Titles were consolidated
It is estimated that the buildings targeted for auction are worth Sh1.5 billion. While the charge was on Wakulima house, the titles were consolidated later when the union was borrowing from commercial banks.
In 2007, the European Union had recommended selling idle assets to cover 75 per cent of the debts and overhauling the systems to reduce operating expenses.
Several plots belonging to the union have since been sold, but the financial situation has not improved. The auction, if it goes ahead, would bring to an end the struggle for survival of a union that in 1980s had the highest-paid chief executive officer.
“What this means (auction) is that with the collapse of Kenya Planters’ Co-operative Union coffee farming will be wiped out in the country,” said James Gitau, chairman of Kenya Coffee Producers Association.
According to some estimates the assets ,which include milling machines, warehouses and buildings, are worth about Sh3 billion.
The union has been bedevilled by cash flow problems for several years, many of which can be traced to the enactment of the Coffee Act 2001 that liberalised the sector, opening floodgates to competition. Some farmers bolted, leaving KPCU holding unsecured debt of Sh3.4 billion.
Hammer hanging over assets
With the auctioneer’s hammer hanging over the union’s assets, farmers, particularly the small scale growers, face a dilemma over the future of coffee farming.
“We do not understand why the government has delayed in releasing the money to pay off the debts. KPCU remains the pillar for small scale coffee farming in the country,” said Francis Mara, chairman of Gitwe coffee farmers society.
Coffee growers interviewed last week called on the government to intervene even as the Ministry of Co-operatives and Marketing moved to place a caveat emptor (buyer beware) over the intended auction of assets on July 30.
But some farmers want the government to bail out the once-giant farmers union that is the anchor of small-scale coffee farming in the country. Kenya Planters’ Co-operative Union was placed under receivership in October 2009 over a Sh644 million debt owed to KCB Group.
Co-operative minister Joseph Nyagah supported the move, saying it provided an opportunity for the government to initiate an ‘Uchumi supermarket like’ rescue plan.
Kenya Planters’ Co-operative Union, established in 1937 by the colonial government, serves about 300 coffee societies with an estimated 700,000 people in the country relying on the crop as source of income.
Farmers fear that its collapse will leave them vulnerable to private buyers and the possibility of exploitation while gains made since 2003 through the revival of coffee farming would be rolled back.
A new entity, Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters, has attempted to fill the gap.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 31 July 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201008020106.html?viewall=1