A draft of new proposals to guide certification in the coffee industry has been completed, signalling a realignment in the current trade and production practices.

Standards regulator, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) said on Thursday the comprehensive draft on certification standards was awaiting approval by stakeholders before being gazetted. â€Å"Once developed, the new standard will form a benchmark on which coffee certification culture can take root in the country. This shall form a pillar on which Kenya shall maintain and expand her coffee markets both locally and internationally,â€Â� Mr Samuel Onjolo, the assistant manager in-charge of standards at Kebs said in a statement.

The draft incorporates both product specifications and an industry code of practice on good agricultural and manufacturing practices, environment management, and social welfare issues. The regulator said the development of the new Kenya Coffee Standard stemmed from the need to realign the local industry to the fast changing global markets where consumer attention to issues such as traceability, food safety, and environmental responsibility, fair pricing, and improved welfare for farmers and workers is growing.

â€Å"For Kenyan coffee to remain competitive in the global market, Kenya needs to communicate widely about its brand through a common ground, and this can only be achieved through an internationally bench marked and recognised coffee standard,â€Â� Mr Onjolo said. Although Kenyan coffee is popular among roasters globally, the country does not have a formal certification or standardisation regime to guide the industryâ€" a position that poses a major threat to the product's competitiveness in the international markets.

Several international players keen on riding on the strengths of the Kenyan coffee have instead introduced their certification labels on consignments of the commodity produced locally. Among the certification labels that have made inroads in Kenya are UTZ Certification, Fair Trade Labelling (FLO), Starbucks CAFÉ Programme, Rainforest Alliance, and International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).

Statistics from the Coffee Board of Kenya (CBK) showed that Kenya's coffee export earnings rose 10 per cent in the 2008/09 crop year â€"thanks to firmer prices after a lower Colombian crop. The country realised Sh10.7 billion during the period, up from Sh9.7 billion a year ago.

Output of the commodity grew by 30 per cent to 55,000 tonnes during the same periodâ€" marking an improvement from the previous year when most growing areas in Central province experienced a severe attack of coffee berry disease (CBD) due to cold weather and a phenomenon known as the biennial cycle where a good harvest is usually followed by a poor one as coffee trees regain ability to produce.

CBK estimates that Kenya will produce 54,000 metric tonnes in the 2009/10 crop year on improved weather patterns after a long spell of drought.