KENYAN COFFEE NEEDS RAIN, TRADERS SAY
Kenya's late coffee crop is flowering
well, but the main coffee areas were generally dry and hot in
the week ended Wednesday, trade sources said.
    "Machakos, Embu, Meru and Kirinyaga in eastern Kenya, and
Nyeri and Thika in central, have been dry in the past week. The
farmers expect rain this week. If it does not fall output of
the late (October-November-December) crop will decline sharply,"
one source said.
    He said that since most growers did not irrigate their crop
they could do nothing but wait for rain, the main factor which
determines Kenyan coffee production.
    Two months ago the International Coffee Organization issued
a forecast of Kenyan exportable coffee production in the
1986/87 (Oct-Sept) season at 1.82 mln bags.
 REUTER
