Kenya projects its coffee output to be 52,000 tonnes in 2005/06 (October-September) season if rains on the drought-stricken land keep falling, the Coffee Board of Kenya (CBK) said on Monday.
The board had last month cut projections by 15-20 percent following the worst drought in Kenya in years. "This is a great blessing to us," CBK managing director Solomon Waweru told Reuters. "This year, we expect (output) at 52,000 tonnes.
This crop is flowering now and if we get the April rains, the crop might even improve." Coffee leaves had started turning a sickly yellow from lack of moisture, but the effect of the drought was worst felt in the northern and eastern parts of Kenya where the failed rains led to hunger that killed dozens of people and thousands of animals.
The government had projected coffee output at about 65,000 tonnes for the current crop year, up from 45,000 in 2004/05, but Waweru said that had been an ambitious forecast.
Coffee production in the east African country has been declining from a peak of 130,000 tonnes in 1987/88.
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