The month of December remained dry and sunny. Picking of the main coffee crop continued but the wet mills saw a decreased cherry intake. The weather was just perfect for the drying parchment. It is now clear that the Co-op production will be less than expected but the focus will be on quality.

Farmers were also busy collecting farmyard manure from cows, chicken and goats sheds. The manure will be applied on coffee in January and February and some will be used to plant food crops in March. In some shambas cherry picking is over and tilling of the farms has already started. The tillage of the farm removes weeds and marks the start of one to two month tree stressing spell that will ensure flowering takes place in March/ April at the onset of the long rains.

Elsewhere, villagers in Ndumberi woke up at dawn on 27th December 2007 to take part in a hotly contested national election. The queues were long and frustrating but villagers’ determination to vote was unshakable. But the peace that marked the voting exercise was soon to be broken by disputes and accusations that revolved around the tallying of presidential votes. Finally president Kibaki was declared the winner over his main rival Raila Odinga by the electoral commission sparking off sporadic riots in Raila’s strongholds. Ndumberi farmers and Kenyans in general are now hoping that the situation in the country will return to normal as soon as possible.

Mr Mbugua is the Ndumberi Co-op’s manager. In his own words, he summarises the benefits resulting from the project as follows:

• It is partly through Mars Drinks assistance that our society passed the UTZ Kapeh audit by Africert. The society has been re-certified again under UTZ Kapeh in the month of August 2007
• Due to the trainings of the farmers and improvement of Wet Mill facilities the quality of the coffee rose from classes 5 and 6 to classes 2, 3 and 4
• The production rose from 405 tonnes of cherry in 2006 to1,430 tonnes in 2007
• The income for farmers has more then tripled.
• The Co-op scored a first by becoming the first farmer/ Co-op in Kenya to sell coffee directly to foreign buyers instead of going through the traditional auction system
• The Co-op has become the first Co-operative in Kenya to provide health services to its farmers
• The Co-op managed to pay farmers 82% of coffee proceeds well above the 80% set by the ministry of Co-ops
• Riabai Clinic is in operation treating on average 30 farmers/ family members per day. During the launch the co-op invited government and stakeholders to sponsor a day of free treatment where over 600 farmers/members of farm families were treated.
• The Co-op has become a model to be replicated across many other co-ops in Kenya.