• Kenya will launch an online global auction platform to open the Nairobi Coffee Exchange to international buyers.

• The government aims to triple annual coffee production to 150,000 tons within three years.

• Kenya exported 53,500 tons of coffee worth $296.9 million in 2024, according to official data.

Kenya plans to digitalize the Nairobi Coffee Exchange to allow international buyers to participate directly in coffee auctions, the Agriculture Ministry Mutahi Kagwe said in a statement on Oct. 8. The exchange currently handles about 80% of the country’s coffee exports and has traditionally been reserved for local traders.

The ministry said the new global online auction platform will increase transparency, cut out intermediaries, and boost farmer incomes.

“The preparations are in their final phase for the launch of Kenya’s first online coffee auction,” the ministry said. “Marketing cannot be done the same way year after year and expect different results it’s madness,” emphasized Kagwe. “We have agreed that the auction must go online, allowing international buyers to participate directly. Cartels will no longer hold the market hostage. Technology will deliver transparency and better prices for our farmers.”

Officials expect the system to lower export costs and increase farmer margins, encouraging growers to return to coffee farming.

Kenya’s coffee output has averaged 43,394 tons between 2019 and 2023, well below the 50,000-ton mark, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). The stagnation reflects a decline in farmer interest, as many switched to more profitable crops or converted farms into real estate projects in traditional coffee-growing areas such as Kiambu.

KNBS said in a 2024 report that this trend has led to the gradual uprooting of coffee trees across the country.

The government aims to triple annual coffee production to 150,000 tons within three years. It plans to modernize 1,176 cooperative factories and expand seed production.

In April, the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises allocated nearly $4 million to provide farmers with 20 million high-yield coffee seedlings each year.

Kenya exported 53,500 tons of coffee worth 38.4 billion shillings ($296.9 million) in 2024, KNBS data show.

This article was initially published in French by Stéphanas Assocle

Adapted in English by Ange Jason Quenum