Kangocho Factory AA, Kenya | FILTER

With nearly 700,000 coffee producers, roughly 70% of which are smallholder producers, Kenya shines as a unique coffee-producing country in East Africa. Located near the Nairobi-Nyeri highway, 5 kilometres from the town of Karatina along the rich slopes of Mt. Kenya and the Aberdare range is the Kangocho Factory. The Gikanda Farmer Cooperative Society (FCS) runs and manages the Factory and is overseen by an elected council. The FCS is made up of 781 smallholder producers from this area of Kenya. Washing stations or wet mills are known as factories in Kenya.

The soils here are rich with nutrients, and the rainfall is plentiful, making this an ideal place to grow coffee in Kenya. The members of the FCS will gather cherries from their farms and deliver to the collection point for the Factory to be sorted, weighed, and processed. Producers then receive payment based on the weight of their coffee.

At the mill after sorting, the coffee cherries are de-pulped via machine to remove the external fruit. The coffee is then cleaned using water from the nearby Ragati River, and then transferred to tiled tanks to ferment overnight, breaking down the remaining mucilage. After fermentation, the coffee is washed once more in channels to remove any remaining mucilage or foreign matter. The freshly cleaned coffee is then dispersed on raised beds to dry in the open sun until the ideal moisture content is reached. The coffee is regularly turned to ensure an even drying process occurs.

A field supervisory committee visits each farm working with the Kangocho Factory, to provide agronomic advice and a demo plot as a guide for producers, teaching them how to improve quality and yield. Large field days are also offered to groups of producers to educate them about more sustainable farming methods. Kangocho also offers a loan program, assisting with advances for school fees or medical emergencies.