Nairobi, March 15 - Kenya's coffee production in 2006 rose by 6.0 percent to 50,528 tonnes compared with the previous year due to better prices and favourable weather, a monthly economic review by the central bank said on Thursday.
Production in the east African country -- a tiny producer by global export statistics but whose top quality arabica beans are blended with those from other regions -- has suffered due to poor earnings and mismanagement in the small holder sector.
"The upturn in the coffee output reflected improved crop husbandry and favourable weather," the Central Bank of Kenya bulletin said, adding the country produced 47,650 tonnes in 2005.
"The modest growth was also boosted by favourable trends in prices which rose from $2,329 per tonne in 2005 to $2,649 per tonne in 2006," it said.
Kenya's coffee sector, whose output peaked at 130,000 tonnes in the 1987/88 crop year, has been recovering in the past four years after reforms to reverse nearly two decades of decline.
Already highly indebted due to poor earnings and high production costs, many smallholder farmers have had little access to affordable credit, which analysts say has been a major reason behind the deterioration.
But the government has written off a 5.3 billion shilling ($76.31 million) debt owed by cooperative societies and unveiled plans to provided 3.5 billion shillings for credit to buy farm inputs or equipment.
It also has allowed direct sales between Kenyan farmers and roasters abroad, which was formerly illegal, to boost income by cutting out a long line of middlemen.