The following will be treated as cross cutting issues and the association will mainstream identified issues in all the operations.

  • Lobbying and advocacy:  The association’s key method of realizing the strategic objectives is through lobbying the government and all stakeholders in the Coffee industry and advocating issues that affect coffee farmers. KCPA will continue to lobby for an enabling environment supportive of the development of the coffee sector. Some of the issues which require immediate lobbying are listed and others will be emerging issues. The association will embrace dialogue in most cases and only resort to activism when this fails to work.
  • The research component will be taken seriously to support effective lobbying as it will provide accurate information on the issues and alternative solutions in addressing the issues. The executive council members, the CEO, the board of trustees, and the district representative will continue to build their capacities in lobbying and advocacy to ensure they are effective as the voice of the farmers.
  • Gender Mainstreaming: Gender inequalities exist in the coffee sector at various levels. Women are mainly the providers of labour but have little access and control over the income from coffee. In addition, the leadership in the cooperative societies including in KCPA is dominated by men. In actual sense, coffee is perceived as a man’s crop while women and children supply labour without congruent benefits. This gender inequality contributes to extreme poverty among the women and is an injustice that requires to be addressed by all the institutions currently deliberating on coffee issues and the KCPA.The association will work to ensure that coffee cooperatives and estate owners embrace gender sensitive policies and affirmative action to include women in leadership. It will also sensitize coffee farmers on the need for equity in the sharing of income from the crop.   
  • HIV/AIDS:  The effects of HIV/AIDS are felt in every sector. In the coffee sector, there is a continuous loss of productive labour from deaths from the disease and worsening poverty levels as the meagre household income is used to take care of the sick and the orphaned. Activities to curb the spread of the disease will include awareness creation during meetings and seminars while printed materials will also bear modules with information on HIV/AIDS and its effects to the coffee industry. The association will collaborate with agencies with extensive focus on HIV/AIDS.
  • Networking and collaboration: Collaboration and networking will be enhanced with local and international organizations dealing with agriculture and marketing. The government is the key collaborator in the coffee industry since the sector is yet to be fully liberalized. The association will embrace dialogue to ensure the voice of the farmers is heard in all issues relating to the coffee sector.
  • Child Labour:  The coffee Sector is known for apparently engaging in child labour. Children who are in search of a livelihood end up being hired for low pay to work on coffee farms. As a result, those children miss the opportunity to better their lives through education. The association will sensitise the members to shun child labour and instead encourage the children to take advantage of the free primary education policies currently being implemented. The association aims to collaborate with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other organizations in advocating against child labour.