Brighter Tomorrow

Home

Kenya Initiative

Malawi Initiative

News

Brighter Tomorrow at Origin

Archive News from Ndumberi Cooperative Project - October 2007

General

The first two weeks of October witnessed the long rains pound Ndumberi villages, soaking the dust and bringing joy to local farmers.
They quickly responded by sowing maize, beans, potatoes and other food crops. However, the last two weeks have seen the rainfall subside, giving way to hot and sunny conditions. Farmers are now hoping for more rains in the month of November.

Pictures of Riabai clinic

At the same time, a good number of farmers took advantage of the rains to apply compound fertilisers to their coffee trees. Picking of main (late) crop has started in earnest. With less than normal rain in October, the main crop has suffered from slow ripening and the peak picking season is now expected to delay up to late November / early December. Also, since August adverse weather conditions have been experienced in a lot of coffee growing areas. This has resulted in higher incidences of Leaf Rust and Coffee berry disease. All these factors may yet result in a lower than estimated main crop this year. Nationally, Kenya production is expected be the lowest ever, according to a prediction by the Coffee Research Foundation. Sangana Commodities Ltd. is estimating the crop will be between 42-48,000 tons of green coffee, down from an initial estimate of 52-55,000 tons. Similarly, the Ndumberi Coop has lowered its crop estimate to 1.6 million Kg of cherry, though still better than last year.

In other news, Kenyans will go voting in the general elections scheduled for 27th December 2007. Campaign drives for presidential, parliamentary and civic seats are in high gear.

Pictures of guests planting trees and people arriving for the ceremony

Early crop beans to go to the market

A couple of weeks ago, Ndumberi sent 300 bags of parchment grade one (P1) and 200 bags of grade (P2) and Parchment Lights (PL) for dry milling and bagging at Socfinaf Mill. This coffee is now ready for sale and will go to the market on Tuesday, 6th November 2007 at the Nairobi coffee auction. Sangana commodities will be bidding for the coffee amongst other buyers.

Riabai clinic is equipped through Mars Drinks sponsorship

Pictures of guests planting trees and people arriving for the ceremony

Ndumberi has made history as the first Coop to provide health care for its members thanks to the generous sponsorship from Mars Drinks and the Ecom Foundation. Two registered nurses, a laboratory technician and 2 support staff have been employed to man the clinic after going through an interview conducted by the project management with the help of a consultant doctor and an officer from the ministry of health. Through Mars Drinks sponsorship, the clinic has acquired basic clinical and laboratory equipments, furniture and drugs.

Pictures of official opening of Riabai clinic

The Riabai clinic opens it's door to patients

The Ndumberi Coop held a successful opening ceremony for the Riabai clinic. The ceremony was attended by over 1,000 farmers and invited guests, among the dignitaries were a cabinet minister, commissioner of cooperatives, the Medical Health Officer for Kiambu district and the Managing Director of Sangana Commodities (Kenya) Ltd.

A free medical clinic (free treatment), sponsored by the ministry of health and members of Kiambaa Development Network, was also held at Riabai wet mill grounds during the ceremony. Over 600 villagers received free treatment provided by over 70 medical staff volunteers from the entire district.

Opening the clinic, the chief guest and Commissioner of Cooperatives, Mr Odhiambo thanked Mars Drinks and the Ecom Foundation for sponsoring the clinic and especially Mars Drinks for its commitment to sustainable coffee production and trade. The same was echoed by Honourable Njenga Karume, the area member of parliament and the current minister of defence. Many visitors were amazed that a private company like Mars Drinks had committed a huge amount of resources to support social and development projects at Ndumberi. Speaking at the function Raymond Gitau, the Coop chairman, narrated how the partnership between the Coop and Mars Drinks has assisted the Coop to offer better prices for coffee cherries, improve quality, more than double cherry yields and to achieve Utz certification for responsible coffee production.

Speaking on behalf of Mars Drinks and Ecom Foundation, Justin Archer, Managing Director of Ecom operations in Kenya, thanked Ndumberi farmers for their efforts and the Coop management for their hard work and for providing the necessary support. 'Mars Drinks coffee market is growing; likewise the demand for Ndumberi coffee is growing. With similar support from all stakeholders the partnership will also grow' said Justin.

Opening the door to patients

Dr Bett, Medical officer Kiambu, has already authorized the gazettement of Riabai clinic as a 'community dispensary'. This means that Riabai will in the future qualify to get assistance in terms of supplies and staff from the government. 'Riabai is a living example of a successful private–public sector initiative; we will give it the necessary support. We also encourage many more similar initiatives to assist us to deliver services to the public' said Dr Bett.

Operating normally a day after the official launch, the Riabai Clinic received a high number of patients – over 60. 'The Riabai clinic is set to receive an amazing number of patients on a daily basis. At this rate, the facilities may be overwhelmed. But the Clinic management expects to get support from the ministry of health in terms of drugs and staff. The clinic project is simply a priority in the area and could not have come at a better time' remarks Julius Ng'ang'a, a sustainability coordinator with Sangana Commodities (Kenya) Ltd.

We provide regular newsletters on our projects in Kenya. Read recent archive news from the Ndumberi Cooperative Project.

» Read the current news from Ndumberi

» More archive newsletters from Ndumberi