Windfall as farmers get superior quality coffee

Coffee farmers sort their cherries at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology's factory last year. [File, Standard]

Coffee farmers are smiling all the way to the bank after harvesting higher-quality berries that fetched higher prices, thanks to heavy rains last year.

According to Robert Thuo, a coffee value chain expert and member of Coffee Sector Implementation Committee, coffee farmers realised a higher production of AA, AB, PB (premium grades) due to better rains.

“High grade coffee fetches more money in the market, which was one of the reasons farmers earned more from their cherry,” said Thuo.

New Kenya Planters Co-operative Union (KPCU) Chairman Henry Kinyua said the rains occurred during the flowering stage of the coffee plants, which led to well formed berries that matured to high quality cherry.

“The rains destroyed most of the flowers, leading to lower volumes of production, but higher quality coffee,” he said.

Thuo said the good rains also contributed to well-filled beans, leading to lower milling losses of 17.02 per cent.

A milling loss is the difference between the parchment that comes from the wet mills and the clean coffee that is available for sale after the dry milling process. This loss is sometimes as high as 24 per cent.

Better quality coffee translated into better cupping qualities, with the well managed cooperatives pronouncing higher grades 2, 3 and 4.

“When you have 80 per cent of your production in these grades, which pay a higher price, then you make better returns,” said Thuo.

The Coffee Directorate at the Agriculture and Food Authority reported that while Africa contributes 11 per cent of coffee production globally, Kenya’s share of Africa’s production is only 4.2 per cent.

“The prices realised are against the backdrop of a glut in the world supply exceeding demand,” Thuo said.

Another reason for the high coffee returns is the depreciation of the Kenyan shilling.

“Coffee is traded in dollars and therefore a four per cent fall of the Kenya shilling to the dollar made farmers earn more compared to previous years,” he said.

Kinyua also attributed the better prices to peer competition among cooperatives as well as transparency in the money paid to farmers.

“Early this year, the rates paid to farmers were openly shared by CS Peter Munya during his meetings with farmers to discuss the coffee reforms,” he said. These meetings allowed farmers to interrogate their payments openly.

“The coffee reforms also played a role in the increased earnings because they call on millers to declare their milling losses and the grades of coffee they buy from farmers,” Kinyua said.

He said Kenyan farmers should however strive to produce more volumes of coffee even as they enjoy the higher payments.