Written By Vanessa Kariuki ||
A significant rehabilitation effort in the coffee farming industry has been launched by the County Government of Kirinyaga.
The program’s main goal is to create a government- and privately-driven coffee industry that implements interventions that are farmer-centric and benefit the entire value chain.
The program, which aims to boost productivity and coffee production in smallholder systems, is focused on 18 coffee factories within seven Farmers’ Cooperative Societies in the County.
The modernization of the chosen factories will involve the installation of cutting-edge eco-pulping machinery, metallic coffee drying beds, sorting sheds, seedling nurseries, expansion of coffee conditioning bins, tilling of fermentation tanks, and solar dryers, depending on the requirements of each factory.
Additionally, this will entail developing the skills of farmers, the management teams of cooperative societies, young people, and extension agents, as well as easing access to fertilizer subsidies and coffee seedlings.
Modernizing coffee facilities will boost productivity and reduce production costs, increasing revenues for farmers.
Farmers in Ndia, according to Julius Muriuki, vice chairman of the Mwirua Farmers’ Cooperative Society, are eagerly anticipating the program’s advantages.
Their chosen factory, Karia-ini, will get access to a contemporary eco pulping machine, modern drying beds, and a contemporary nursery for coffee seedlings.
In order to increase the quantity of coffee bushes in the area, he stated that the presence of a coffee nursery would allow them to create high yielding seedlings for sale to farmers in the cooperative society.
“The eco pulping machine which uses less electricity and water will enhance efficiency in coffee pulping and enable the farmers to save on water and electricity. It is also faster and thus will double the amount of coffee pulped by the old machine at one given time,” Muriuki said.
He added, ” Demand for high yielding varieties of coffee is very high and we aim to bridge that gap by propagating our own seedlings at the factory for distribution among our farmers.”
Kiangundu Coffee Factory will receive an Eco Pulper, an extended conditioning bin, and a contemporary coffee seedlings nursery, according to Francis Karimi, Chairman of Mutira Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Kirinyaga Central.
In contrast to traditional machines that nip more berries and produce less well-pulped berries, the current machine will generate up to 98 percent of perfectly pulped berries.
This will lower the cost of production and increase the quality of the coffee being processed at the factory level, increasing the amount of money that farmers receive.
Karimi stated that companies will save a significant amount of money by switching from wooden to metallic drying beds for coffee, which will eliminate the need for regular upkeep of the wooden ones.
“We have been carrying out repairs on the wooden beds every season but with metallic ones, we will save that money for the benefit of the farmer,” Karimi said.
Smallholder farmers in the county produce the majority of the county’s coffee, which they sell collectively through their cooperative societies.
The seven farmer’s cooperatives that have benefited factories include Mutira, Ngiriambu, Baragwi, Karithathi, Rung’eto, Mwirua, and Kabare.
