The establishment of a Sh100 million coffee milling plant in Ukambani has put a smile on the faces of thousands of farmers in the region.
For many years, coffee growers in Makueni and Machakos counties have had to bear the burden of transporting their coffee parchments to millers in Kiambu and Nairobi counties for milling.
Due to the high cost of transport, farmers made losses or got very little returns. This made many quit coffee growing for bananas which also do well in the area.
The narrative is now taking a new twist with the installation of the first ever coffee milling plant in the region.
The Lower Eastern Coffee Millers chairman, Patrick Katingima, said the factory was developed in 2012 but became fully operational last year.
Katingima noted that transportation cost, which was as high as Sh200 per 50kg bag to Thika and Nyambane, has now dropped to Sh70 after the establishment of the new Machakos mill.
He said grading has also improved to top grades such as AA, AB and PB unlike in the past when coffee from the region used to be graded as low as grade C and TT.
“Our coffee used to fall in grade C but now two coffee societies from Mitamboni have recorded a Class 2,” said Katingima.
The plant is situated at Machakos town and will serve 23 coffee societies in Machakos and Makueni counties.
The region’s production of coffee was rated very highly in the 1980s and 1990s but it has been declining year after year.
Traditional coffee growing areas in Ukambani are Kangundo, Kathiani, Matungulu and Machakos districts in Machakos county and Mbooni and Kaiti districts in Makueni county. The peak period for delivering coffee is in the months of August and September.
Josphat Nzeki, the machine operator, said the plant has a capacity of milling 1.2 tonnes per hour, which is about 600 bags a day.
“We’ve seen a lot of changes in how coffee is handled and classified as compared to previous years. We’ve cut down on transport costs and seen improvement in milling quality,” said Nzeki.
He said besides transportation costs being low, farmers are also enjoying low milling charges of about Sh5,500 per tonne.
Josphat Ngenjya, the operations and quality manager, said more than Sh1 billion goes to coffee farmers every year in Machakos.
Felix Kilonzi, a farmer from Mitamboni Coffee Society, said this year alone, farmers earned Sh54 per kilo of coffee sold to the milling plant.
“Our cooperative society delivered the best coffee last year earning Sh54 per kilo. We are very happy with the establishment of this mill because we are no longer going to be shortchanged or continue to suffer because of high transport costs,” said Kilonzi.
Katingima added that they are now planning to venture into value addition by starting other income-generating activities.
“We have to go the value-addition way. We want to reach a consensus with our members on how we shall start making charcoal from coffee husks,” he said.
He said the management is also considering starting the roasting and packaging of coffee from the mill in order to sell to both domestic and foreign markets.
“Konza and Machakos cities are coming up and we need to explore the possibility of direct sales to both local and international markets,” said Katingima.
He called on the county government to help in capacity-building of farmers, give grants to coffee farmers to offset their loans and to ensure regular supply of electricity to the plant.
“A power stoppage of between three to eight hours is very costly to us. We are still considering purchasing an industrial generator which costs about Sh13 million and we are therefore calling for support from the county government,” he said.