KAMWANGI - WASHED - KENYA

New Ngariama Cooperative Society

The New Ngariama Farmers Cooperative manages several well-performing factories, including Kainamui, and has approximately 3000 active farmer members. Their consistent quality standards and robust traceability and quality control systems have been evident over the past years. Our partnership with the New Ngariama Farmers Cooperative dates back to 2016, and we have consistently sourced coffee from them since then.

Impact

The New Ngariama Cooperative is known for giving back a big portion of the premiums to the producers, and they also provide financial support for school fees and farming needs.

The Kamwangi factory collects cherries from about 1000 smallholders with an average of 0,4 hectares of coffees, about 250 trees each. Fermentation is done with Fresh River Water. The same water is recycled during the day through a recycling process enabling them to significantly reduce water consumption.

They are Rainforest Alliance certified, and have established soaking pits for waste water treatment.

Harvest & Post-Harvest

Most of the processing in Kenya is standardised, but some variation will occur depending on the management and their philosophy. The description that follows is pretty standard for Kenya and will apply to most of the coffees across the different wet mills and cooperatives.

The main flowering period occurs from February to March, with the primary harvest taking place from October to December.

The soil, primarily Nitisol, is rich and developed from volcanic materials, commonly found in highland areas and steep volcanic slopes. Nitisol exhibits superior chemical and physical properties compared to other tropical soils.

Processing

Before processing, farmers hand-sort the cherries to remove unripe and overripe ones. A 3-Disc Agaarde disc pulping machine is used to remove the skin and pulp from the cherries. The coffees are then graded by density into three categories by the pulper: Grade 1 and 2 are considered higher quality and are fermented separately, while Grade 3 is categorised as a lower grade.

The coffee is then dry fermented for 18-36 hours in concrete tanks under a roof that provides shade for better temperature control during fermentation. After fermentation, the coffees are washed and again graded by density in washing channels. They are sometimes soaked in clean water overnight.

The coffee is then sun-dried for 12 to 20 days on African drying beds. The drying time will depend on weather conditions. The coffees are covered with plastic during midday and at night for protection.

Kenya Overview

Kenya is known for its high-quality fully washed coffees, with over 700,000 smallholder coffee farmers contributing to about 55% of the country's production. The remaining portion comes from estates. Each smallholder typically owns 1-2 hectares of land with around 100 coffee trees. These farmers are organised into cooperative societies, which oversee the wet mills where they deliver their cherries for processing.

Farmers have the freedom to choose which wet mill they deliver their cherries to, as there are often several options available in their area. Quality is paramount in Kenya's traditional auction system, with better-quality coffees fetching higher prices. Factories that produce top-quality coffees attract more farmers, as they receive a second payment based on sales prices, often up to 90% after deducting marketing and preparation costs.

Transparency is a key feature of the Kenyan system, with everything clearly separated into small lots and different grades. Farmers know exactly what portion of the sales price goes back to the cooperative society after processing costs. Many cooperative societies and factories compete to provide the best returns to their farmers, with some able to pay back up to 90% of the sales price.