Women and young coffee farmers in Embu have been urged to join agri-business project, Nescafe Plan, sponsored by Nestlé in partnership with Coffee Management Services. Nestlé is a food and beverage company.
Grace Njura and Duncan Kamau, 35, who are members in the project, said the venture is lucrative for educated and semi-educated youths. They said graduates are wasting a lot of time looking for elusive jobs when they should be engaging in farming.
They said with proper training and appropriate farming methods, coffee pays better than most white collar jobs.
Njura, a trained nurse, said she quit her job 10 years ago to do coffee farming, and after training by Nestlé agriculture officers she has been harvesting about 20kg of coffee beans from each plant, about 3,000 kg, in her half-acre.
Kamau is a trained veterinarian and after failing to secure a job ventured into farming. He says since he joined the project, coffee production in his half acre has risen from 500 kg to more than 2,000kg, earning him about Sh200,000.
Kamau is a member of Murue Coffee Society. In the last season, the society’s members were paid Sh100 per kilo, according to chairman Muriuki . The two have been trained on proper farming methods by Nestlé. Njura and Kamau spoke on Friday during a visit to Murue Society by the Nestlé senior management team in Kenya led by programme coordinator Peter Kimata. He said following the training, coffee production has increased by 75 per cent.
