Coffee farming is steadily regaining its status as one of Nakuru County's most promising cash crops, with more farmers embracing the crop amid expanding acreage, improved institutional support and nationwide reforms aimed at reviving Kenya's coffee sector.

Once concentrated in Subukia and Bahati, coffee cultivation is now spreading to Rongai, Njoro, Gilgil, Naivasha, Molo, Kuresoi North and Kuresoi South as farmers increasingly turn to the crop for better returns. County officials say the expansion reflects renewed confidence in coffee's profitability and the growing support available to farmers.

According to the Nakuru County Coffee Status Report (May 2026), the county has 2,265 hectares under coffee, comprising 645 hectares managed by small-scale farmers through cooperative societies and 1,620 hectares under large-scale estates.

Additionally, the report notes that the county has about 1,500 coffee farmers, while average production stands at 2.5 kilograms per bush, only half of the five-kilogram potential achievable under recommended management practices.

Chief Officer for Cooperatives and Entrepreneurship Kibet Kurgat said the county is witnessing a remarkable shift, with coffee no longer confined to its traditional growing zones.

"In Nakuru we have 11 sub-counties, and coffee is now expanding to about seven of them, including Njoro, Kuresoi North, Kuresoi South, Gilgil and parts of Rongai. Last year, the county sold more than two million kilograms of coffee, showing the crop's growing economic potential," he said.

Chief Officer for Cooperatives and Entrepreneurship Kibet Kurgat during a meeting held in Nakuru with coffee stakeholders on the revival of Coffee

Photo credit: PURITY KINUTHIA / MTAA WANGU

Kurgat noted that Nakuru has eight active coffee cooperatives and urged more farmers to join cooperative societies to benefit from government programmes, extension services and collective marketing.

He added that the county is working with the New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (New KPCU) and the Department of Agriculture to distribute quality seedlings, strengthen extension services and ensure farmers benefit from subsidized fertilizer and other interventions. He also welcomed the national government's debt relief programme for struggling coffee cooperatives, saying it would enable societies to recover and better serve farmers.

The county report, however, identifies several challenges facing the sector, including low uptake of the Cherry Fund, ageing processing equipment in some cooperatives and farmers selling coffee to brokers instead of through cooperative societies, limiting their returns.

The chairman of the New KPCU and Vice Chair of the National Coffee Steering Committee under revival of Coffee Daniel Chemno, said the national coffee revival programme is designed to restore Kenya's position as a leading coffee producer by encouraging existing farmers to improve productivity, bringing back those who abandoned the crop and opening up new coffee-growing areas such as Nakuru.

He noted that Kenya's annual coffee production has declined from about 130,000 metric tonnes in 1990 to nearly 50,000 metric tonnes today, making revival efforts critical.

Coffee stakeholders led by the chairman of the New KPCU and Vice Chair of the National Coffee Steering Committee under revival of Coffee Daniel Chemno meet in Nakuru to discuss the revival of Coffee

Photo credit: PURITY KINUTHIA / MTAA WANGU

Chemmos believe the combination of county support, national reforms and stronger cooperatives could transform the crop into a major economic driver.

"With productivity still well below its potential, improving farming practices, getting big on research to come up with new coffee varieties and strengthening cooperative marketing may hold the key to delivering better incomes for thousands of households across the county," he concluded.

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