Nairobi, Oct. 26 - Coffee experts have been deployed to check on coffee leaf rust disease that has been reported in parts of Kenya's main coffee producing areas in the past month, an official said Friday.
Loise Njeru, managing director at the state-run Coffee Board of Kenya, said the experts will be equipped with spraying machines and will check on the situation and report back by the end of next week.
Farmers had earlier reported that the disease had been spotted in some areas of Central Province particularly in low altitude areas. The disease later spread to even higher altitudes and to all growing areas in Central and Eastern Provinces within a short period.
"We have send our officers to the ground, they will inspect the whole of Central, Eastern and North Eastern Provinces even where nothing has been cited, since we are not leaving anything to chance," said Njeru.
Central Province alone accounts for 80% of the country's overall output of arabica coffee.
Coffee leaf rust is spread by wind and rain from spores from lesions on the underside of the coffee plant.