President William Ruto on Thursday, June 13 announced new measures on debt and loans for coffee cooperatives.
Speaking during the 9th Annual Dairy Farmers Field Day Celebrations in Meru County, Ruto announced an affordable loan kitty of Ksh6 billion for coffee farmers.
The loans will be offered at a 3.6 per cent interest rate.
At the same time, he also barred boards of management of coffee cooperatives from taking loans without the involvement of farmers.
Ruto stated that many cooperatives had been taking loans without informing the farmers. According to the Head of State, farmers are usually the most hit group by the debt.
Therefore, he indicated that loans will be authorised during the Annual General Meeting where the farmers are represented.
At the meetings, Ruto stated that the farmers need to be informed on the loan being taken with justifications given for the loan.
"Going forward, no debt will be taken by the management or by the board until it is approved at the general meeting so that farmers can know how much is being taken and what is going to be used for," he stated.
Ruto made the remarks after announcing the government was going to clear the Ksh6 billion debt that is owned by the coffee cooperatives.
On the other hand, he called on the farmers to take advantage of the low-interest loan instead of going for expensive loans from other lenders.
"We now have government money that we have put in place for coffee farmers which is Ksh6 billion. It will be given an interest rate of 3 per cent.
"Do you want to borrow the debt at 26 per cent or take the government rate at Ksh3 per cent?" he posed.
