(Ecofin Agency) - In Kenya, outlook for 2016-17 coffee output is extremely gloomy as a result of drought that has hit the country in recent months.

The drought, which was induced by the La Niña weather phenomenon, delayed rains in the 2016-17 agricultural season and also led to a delay in the flowering of coffee trees, due to higher temperatures mostly. “Rainfall between November and January has been poor,” said James Oduor, Executive Director of the National Drought Management Authority. “With the conditions as they are, we expect coffee production to decline,” Harrison Mugo, a director at Coffee Research Institute, said.

In addition to production, some experts believe that the quality of Kenyan coffee, especially its Arabica variety, could also be affected by the drought.

Let’s highlight that these gloomy forecasts for the coffee sector come in a context where the production target set by the government for the tea sector, ​​500 million kilograms, is very likely not to be achieved.