Kenya Coffee Licences: Who Issues What Under the Coffee Act

Coffee licensing in Kenya is split between four public bodies. The Coffee Act (No. 8 of 2026), in force since 27 March 2026, ended the Agriculture and Food Authority’s role in coffee and set out in its Second Schedule which body issues each of seventeen licences, permits and certificates. Getting the right licence from the right authority is the first compliance step for any grower, miller, warehouse operator, buyer or exporter. This article maps all seventeen, explains the county government’s separate licensing and registration role, and flags one inconsistency in the Act that commercial millers need to manage.

The seventeen licences at a glance

Under section 28(1), a person who intends to perform any function for which the Act requires a licence or permit must apply to the licensing authority specified in the Second Schedule. The Act defines “licensing authority” as the Board, the county government or the Capital Markets Authority, as the case may be. The Second Schedule allocates the licences as follows.

The Coffee Board of Kenya

The Board handles the trading end of the value chain. Section 11(1) makes it responsible for considering applications for the licences and permits in the Second Schedule and for registering coffee dealers. Section 30(1) adds that no one may operate as a cupping laboratory, liqueur, coffee buyer, importer, agent or warehouse operator without the Board’s licence, registration certificate or permit. The coffee trading licence is described in section 79: the Board may issue it to a grower or a buyer for trading in the international coffee market and auction. The export movement permit sits with the Board because section 33(1)(b)(iii) gives the Board control over movement of clean coffee by buyers on purchase, movement of purchased coffee to warehouses by millers, and movement of clean coffee for export or import.

County governments

Counties license the production and primary processing end. Section 23 requires each county to keep an up-to-date register of coffee growers, nursery operators, co-operative societies, coffee associations and estates, and to consider applications for the certificates, permits and licences in the Second Schedule that fall to it. Section 25(1) prohibits operating a pulping station or carrying out hulling, a coffee growers’ mill, a coffee roaster, a warehouse or a commercial coffee miller without a licence from the county government where the operation is carried out. Section 27(1) separately requires growers, nursery operators, grower-millers, commercial millers, roasters, co-operatives, associations and estates to register with their county.

Movement within the country is also partly a county matter. Section 33 requires a person transporting clean coffee to hold a licence issued under section 28 and a movement permit. Buni and parchment move on a permit from the county of origin, and clean coffee moving from the mill to the warehouse moves on a permit from the county. A smallholder moving their own cherry between the farm and the pulping station where they are registered does not need a permit.

The Capital Markets Authority and the Institute

Section 29 confirms that the coffee exchange licence and the broker’s licence are issued by the Capital Markets Authority under the Capital Markets Act, and section 74(1) provides that the Authority shall license an exchange for trading coffee. Coffee nursery certificates are issued by the Coffee Research and Training Institute, which the Act establishes to take over coffee research from the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation. Our separate articles on coffee exchange licensing and coffee broker licensing cover the capital markets side in detail.

The commercial miller inconsistency

The Act does not speak with one voice on commercial millers. The Second Schedule lists the commercial coffee miller’s licence as a Board licence. Section 25(1)(e), however, prohibits anyone from operating a commercial coffee miller without a licence from the county government where the operation is undertaken, and section 27 requires commercial millers to register with that county. A literal reading of both provisions means a commercial miller needs a county licence and a Board licence. Until the Cabinet Secretary makes regulations under section 99 or the Board publishes a position, the prudent course is to apply to both and to keep written confirmation of what each authority requires. We discuss this and other drafting gaps in the Coffee Act separately.

Rules that apply to every licence

Whichever authority issues it, a licence under the Act is not transferable (section 28(4)), expires on 30 June each year, and must be renewed by 1 June, with late applications allowed on payment of a late fee (section 35). A licensing authority must decide an application within the period set by its licensing legislation, which may not exceed fourteen days, and must give reasons for refusal (section 28). A licence may be cancelled for breach of its conditions or of the licensing legislation (section 36), and a decision to refuse, revoke or cancel a licence can be taken to the licensing authority’s Dispute Resolution Committee and then to the High Court (sections 38 and 92). Licences issued by AFA in relation to coffee that were valid before 27 March 2026 continue under section 104. Applicants whose files were still pending should read our note on pending AFA coffee licence applications.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information on Kenyan law as at its publication date, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an advocate and client relationship.