Regulator in coffee seek cooperatives societies and estates join DSS

The Nairobi Coffee Exchange (NCE) has directed the coffee cooperatives and estates to be linked with Direct Settlement Systems (DSS) to help streamline the payment procedures.

According to NCE, the DSS will list down all the service providers and access details of the coffee reports from the auction after the weekly sales.

“By joining the platform, the growers will have visibility of their coffee traded at the NCE from the time it was offered for sale to the settlement of their coffee sales proceeds into their bank accounts,” said NCE CEO Lisper Ndung’u.

In a notice dated September 23, Ms Ndung’u asked the growers to collaborate with the NCE and the appointed DSS provider, Cooperative Bank.

She adds that in the year 2023/24, the players listed in the DSS  are warehouses, coffee brokers, and coffee millers among others.

“ We now want to have the farmers now listed in the DSS  to ensure they are fully involved in the coffee business, to ensure there is high-level transparency,” said Ndung’u when she spoke with the Standard.

The notice is issued to the cooperatives and estates, when the farmers are lobbying for additional DSS providers to ease the payment services to the growers.

Kenya Coffee Producers Association chaired by Peter Gikonyo has pleaded with the Cooperative Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya to recruit additional players  to supplement efforts made by Cooperative Bank.

" To ensure there is a prompt payment to the coffee farmers, the government should recruit more service providers," said Gikonyo.