KARIANI

With nearly 700,000 coffee producers, roughly 70% of which are smallholder producers, Kenya shines as a unique coffee-producing country in East Africa. Within the Kirinyaga County is the Kariaini Coffee Factory, belonging to the Mwirua Farmers’ Cooperative Society (FCS). In Kenya, factories are essentially wet mills and collection points for coffee.

KariainiFactory was founded back in 1954 at Mukure location in Kirinyaga County, one of eight belonging to the Mwirua FCS. They assist the 1,500 of its members with processing, providing farm inputs, giving advances to members, certifying coffee seedlings and also help with transporting coffee to the factories. The FCS started planting seedlings and working with producers back in 1952, and became an official FCS in 1954,and therefore have quite a lengthy amount of experience with coffee cultivation and processing. Members will deliver their cherries to the nearest Factory for processing.

Situated at roughly 1,600meters above sea level, the region where the Factory is located is defined by its bright red soils, full of rich nutrients for coffee trees. The high altitude allows for ideal temperatures and rainfall for the slow maturation of coffee cherries. The Rundu River is nearby, providing a fresh and clean water source for processing. After the producers gather their ripe cherries, they will deliver them to the Factory. Once the cherries reach the mill, the coffee is pulped within 24 hours to remove the external fruit from the coffee bean. This is done via a discpulping machine. The coffee is then soaked n cement tanks with water for 18 –48 hours to break down the remaining mucilage. Following fermentation, the coffee is evenly dispersed on wooden raised beds lined with mesh wiring to allow for airflow to evenly dry the beans. The coffee is spread in layers no thicker than 3cm, and dry in the open sun for 5 –30 days, and are raked three times a day to ensure even drying.

In order to reduce environmental impact, the Factory has dug wastewater pits to sustainably purify the water used for processing before it seeps back into the soil.