Six Coffee Factories Close Down as Production Dwindles

Coffee production in Kenya has been on the decline and the unpredictability of supply has led to six factories associated with Iyego Cooperative Society to close down.

Nginda, Kariguini, Gikiuga, Kahaini, and Irembu factories were converted to collection hubs in a bid to reduce operational costs.

It is reported that these factories were operating below capacity, which led to their closure.

According to Joseph Mburu Kamande, a former chairman of coffee farmers in the Mt Kenya region, the challenges rocking the coffee sector have pushed farmers to seek other farming options.

The factories have, in the past two years, delayed employee salaries some for more than a month.

Another factory, the Kiawanduma coffee factory, which split from Rwaikamba Co-operative Society is currently a savior to farmers as it has set up set up coffee collection points to ease transport burden.

According to Kamande, for three years, the production from farmers has grown to more than 600,000kgs and there are hopes that there are hopes of attaining a processing capacity of 1.2 million kilograms at Kiawanduma factory.

Kamande also noted that marketing has been one of the biggest challenges the coffee industry in Kenya is facing.

“In the past 20 years, production has been on the decline, a trend that can be reversed if there are concerted efforts to rehabilitate coffee farms,” Kamande said.

Rowland Ndegwa, the chair of Iyego Co-operative Society said that the company had consulted with experts on farmers training to enable them to learn how to tend to their crops for increased production.

READ Murang’a Coffee Farmers Receive Lowest Pay in 5 Years

“We had to reduce operational costs to match with production. That does not mean that we have closed the factory,” said Ndegwa.

The closure of the six factories, however, has been downplayed by the County cooperative chief officer Bernard Wanyoike who claims that production has been gradually increasing and that the number of closed factories is not as high as speculated.

Wanyoike says that they will soon release a report on an inspection conducted about the status of the factories. He also stated that there are 144 active factories in the county and that only a few have closed.

Meanwhile, Governor Mwangi wa Iria says that he had urged the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to conduct a forensic audit of all the coffee factories to put to end cases of theft.

READ ALSO Coffee Farmers Smile on the First Auction of 2019

The governor was quick to note that the problem is not poor coffee prices, but mismanagement at the factory level.

“There is corruption at the lower level as a lot of attention is focused on the big offices,” said the governor.