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| Archive News from Ndumberi Cooperative Coffee Improvement Project - October 2006 |
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| As the month of October came to a close, the eagerly awaited long rains started pounding the parched and dusty shambas (small farms) in Ndumberi, quickly converting them into beautiful green fields. As expected, all the wet mills received very little cherry in the month of August. The wet mills' managers focused their efforts on the parchment that was either drying or undergoing sorting before bagging. The main crop is expected to be ready for harvest by late October. |
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| The coffee processing skills of the Wet Mill managers is at test, as farmers deliver their crop to Wet Mills 3 days in a week. It is now common practice to see farmers deliver sack loads of coffee in old but newly renovated trucks, donkey carts, wheel barrows and also on their backs Workers in the Wet Mills have no alternative but to work overtime to cope with the amount of coffee being received on a weekly basis. |
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'On Saturday, each Wet Mill received more than 30 tons of cherry stretching our facilities to the limit. Our fermentation and soaking tanks and washing channels are able to cope with the harvest thanks to the recent rehabilitation that was kindly sponsored by FOUR SQUARE. But we need to do a lot more to improve our drying tables. The FOUR SQUARE sponsored permanent drying tables have gone along way to save the situation' states Raymond Gitau, the Coop chairman. |
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| 'The Coop received 130 tons of cherry as early crop in the months of June and July this year. This coffee yielded 315 bags of parchment one, 25 bags of parchment two, 31 bags of parchment three and 8 bags of parchment lights. The coffee is ready to go to the dry mill and the market. We are keenly following the new developments in the marketing of coffee and we hope to decide whether to sell the coffee through the second window or to send it to Nairobi coffee auction' discloses Mr Peter Mbugua, the Coop Secretary Manager. |
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| Following the timely start of the long rains and acquisition of compound fertilisers to be applied this month, the Coop expects slightly higher main crop. 'So far the three Wet Mills have received about 800,000 kg cherry as part of the maincrop. We still hope to receive 400,000kg more before the end of the season' explains Mr Mbugua. |
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| Access to basic health care is a big challenge to Ndumberi farmers and their families. The farmers are very eager to see the start of the construction of a clinic on a site the coop has set aside at Riabai Wet Mill. 'We are very grateful that FOUR SQUARE is buying our coffee and is also considering sponsoring a basic health care facility for us. We hope the clinic will one day handle maternity cases for our people' a woman farmer was overheard saying. |
| The Coop and Sangana Commodities (Kenya) Ltd, in partnership with the local Catholic Church have prepared a clinic project proposal to be submitted to FOUR SQUARE for possible funding. The clinic is expected to ease access to basic health care to about 2000 small holder coffee farmers and their families. |
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| Riabai Wet mill was constructed in the early 1960's and normally receives the largest amount of cherry compared to other Wet Mills in Ndumberi. This year's trend is no exception and Riabai has received 320 tons of cherry. Ndumberi management estimates that the Wet Mill will receive about 450 tons by the end of the season. |
| Riabai is managed by a skilled manager by the name Thomas Bunyi. Thomas, a married father of two, was born and brought up in a coffee farm near Ndumberi Main Wet Mill. His family owns about 600 stems of coffee which are currently producing about 600 kg of coffee every year. Thomas is working hard to improve yields from his family's stems. Thomas, anticipating good prices ahead, has advised his family to uproot the Napier grass that had been interplanted with coffee. |
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Thomas was first employed by the Coop as a casual labourer in 1993 before securing a permanent job as a machine operator in 1996. Since then he has attended three courses on coffee processing at the local coffee research foundation. Thomas is confident that he has the skills and experience necessary to manage a busy Wet Mill and he is looking forward to receiving more cherry in the near future. 'After the Utz Kapeh certification and the partnership with FOUR SQUARE, farmers' morale is very high, we hope this will translate to yields' asserts Thomas. He cites the shortage of drying tables as the biggest challenge the coop is yet to overcome. 'FOUR SQUARE has sponsored 13 new permanent drying tables in Riabai alone, which is a big leap in the right direction. We need to put up more tables and renovate the conditioning bin. Our fermentation tanks and channels are in good shape thanks to kind sponsorship from FOUR SQUARE' adds Thomas. |
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| Ndumberi has provided a good working environment to Thomas and his casual workers. 'Unlike other Coops, ours pays on time every 30 days. We are very grateful for that. We have no problem providing for our families' discloses Thomas. But Thomas is hoping that the relationship with FOUR SQUARE can grow to a long term business partnership, which can provide a good and steady market for Ndumberi coffee. He promises to do his best to process the cherries delivered to Riabai so as to produce the best cup characteristic of Kenya Arabica beans. |
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| We provide regular newsletters on our projects in Kenya. Read recent and archive news from the Ndumberi Cooperative Coffee Improvement Project. |
| » Read the current news from Ndumberi |
| » More archive newsletters from Ndumberi |
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