NAIROBI — As fortunes in the coffee sub-sector continue to dwindle, an international charity organisation has moved to assist farmers.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has embarked on a multi-million shilling East African Coffee Initiative Project that will see thousands of farmers acquire modern skills aimed at increasing their production and income.

Select farmers from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia have been incorporated in the project which will among other things train them on modern coffee husbandry and link them with international coffee dealers who are going for specialty coffee.

Specific standards

Some dealers have been insisting on coffee that has met specific standards. Among the requirements is non-use of certain chemicals and production under supervision of recognised and specially trained officers.

Some coffee societies have signed up with dealers who supervise their operations and buy the parchment coffee directly, thereby enabling the producers earn more.

The Gates Foundation has contracted an international non-governmental organisation TechnoServe Coffee Initiative, to work with farmers so that they can meet the required international standards.

TechnoServe will provide technical assistance to the farmers and their respective societies' management committees in agronomy and primary processing to improve coffee quality and yields.

A memorandum

Last week, TechnoServe Coffee Initiative Director, John Logan witnessed a signing of a memorandum of understanding between coffee farmers affiliated to Giakanja Coffee Co-operative Society in Tetu Division, Nyeri South District, and the NGO.

Mr Logan said the project plans on assisting at least 500,000 farmers in the next four years.

TechnoServe's initiative aims at ensuring that coffee farmers benefit from the rapidly growing and stable specialty coffee market through training and market linkage.

"Our aim is to create a model co-operative society in Nyeri where farmers are able to sustain coffee production through improved incomes," said Moses Ndiritu, the chairman of Giakanja society during the signing of the agreement.

At the end of the four-year project period, farmers affiliated to more than 100 societies across the country will have benefited from the programme.

Roll out

The project is mainly in Central and Eastern provinces and is expected to roll out in other regions later this year and early next year.

Giakanja, which is near Nyeri town, has been a beneficiary of other coffee quality projects, including the Hivos Project being implemented by Sustainable Management Services (SMS), a coffee management arm of the multinational Ecom Trading Company, who are offering agronomic support to farmers.

Source: The Nation