SEATTLE, Wash.
By Dan Bolton
Five years ago Kenya might have wilted under the intense scrutiny of the global specialty coffee community. But Kenya shined during this year’s trek to Seattle as the Global Specialty Coffee Expo’s 2017 portrait country.
On his return to Nairobi, agriculture cabinet secretary Willy Bett announced “we pushed for increased sales from the American roasters and they have already increased orders from what they currently buy.”
Kenya is a land of small holders with a rich agricultural tradition. There is effective outreach by government, a strong agricultural extension service, and well-respected coffee researchers along with active NGOs.
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The result of this effort, in combination with great soil, equatorial sun, predictable rainfall, and high-mountain terrain, is a medium-bodied, fruit-juicy coffee that specialty roasters find enticing.
They like the fact that most of the washed coffee is hand processed to insure consistency and that beans are classified by bean size (AA-AB-C).Unique cultivars like SL-28 and SL-34 (Bourbon stock) offer a lot of variety. The six distinct producing regions produce a pleasing range of quality arabica.
While most of the annual harvest is used in blends, single-origin coffees, often purchased direct through a system of independent marketing agents, regularly score in the 90s on the SCAA cupping scale. In May Revel Coffee featured a Kenya Kabare AA that scored 96 and was selling online for $14.50 for 12oz.
The challenge is not about growing good coffee, the challenge is growing more of it. Like many of the coffee-producing countries of East Africa, which 40 years ago produced more than a quarter of the world’s coffee, Kenya has seen a decades-long decline in production.
Africa today produces less than 15% of the world’s coffee. That is now about to change and Kenya is leading the way.
Myth or reality
David Kandagor a soil scientist at the University of Nairobi representing the Kenya Coffee Directorate, told expo attendees that Kenya intends to double its coffee production within five years. In his graduate thesis he discovered farm performance was about 34% of the achievable optimum of 1.3 metric tons per hectare.
“Myth or reality,” he said, confronting the audience. He then quickly dispelled any lingering doubts by detailing how the country is approaching this task.
About 67% of the country’s coffee is produced by small holders in cooperatives. There are 700,000 growers, accounting for 60% of production but few are earning a living. Large estates make up the remainder which is almost exclusively for export.
Trees are planted at approximately 1,320 per hectare and harvested twice a year.Last year (2015/16) Kenya produced 455kg per hectare, approximately 2.4 kgs of cherry per tree. The result was 46,121 m.t. of green coffee. “Now, compare that to 1987/88 when productivity was 829kg per hectare and the average tree produced 4.4 kilos of cherry resulting in 129,637 m.t.,” said Kandagor.
A recently completed government report on reforming the coffee industry paints a dire picture of declining coffee lands, bulldozed for development and more profitable crops. The Integrated Coffee Productivity Initiative (ICPI) is designed to unlock this potential through soil management, increasing the capacity at the factory level (wet stations) and supplying certified planting material.
“Increasing productivity per tree is achievable when small holders optimize their land,” he said, citing the example of Eliud Kimotho in Tekangu, Nyeri County. Kimotho has only 170 trees but he produces 6,300 kilos annually, an average of 37 kilos of cherry per tree. He earns 50 shillings per kilo, an astounding $18.5 per tree, according to Kandagor who has personally verified the above. In a country with an annual per capita income of $1,376 (2015) grossing $3,145 from small parcel provides a big incentive and the resources to produce good coffee.
Field training and localized advice shifts the responsibility to individual farmers who can make adjustments per existing conditions, said Kandagor.
The rest is simple math. Coaxing 5 kilos of cherry from 157 million mature trees yields 110,000 m.t. and planting 24 million new varieties, which yield 7 kilos per tree, adds 24,000 m.t. Acting now will increase the 2019/20 harvest to 134,000 m.t., more than doubling current production.
“Production per tree is key to the coffee business,” he said.
Financing
A potential obstacle in Kenya’s pursuit of historic yields ― beyond changing weather and depleted soil, low earnings, delayed coffee payments, and restrictive laws ― is the urgent need for access to cash for farmers.
Futuristic solutions aside (See bext360, pg 46) few family farmers canaccess financing from mainstream financial institutions.
Kenya sees two approaches that hold promise. The first is to increase domestic consumption. Unlike Ethiopia were coffee is popular, less than 5% of the Kenyan crop is consumed in Kenya. Developing a robust local market simplifies transactions complicated by coffee’s long growing cycle.
Helping farmers overcome financial obstaces is the other solution. The Commodities Fund (Coffee Development Fund) has disbursed $26 million to 130,880 farmers since 2007. Last year 21,400 farmers qualified for assistance in the form of credit for farm inputs and operations.
Targeting North America
Last year North American roasters paid an 18% premium for Kenyan AA over German bidders.
This is one reason why Kenya has set a goal of selling 30% of its coffee to the US by the end of 2019. Kenya currently exports about 14% of its crop to the US.
This is also one reason why Kenya worked so hard to leave a good impression at this year’s SCA, says Kenya Coffee Exchange c.e.o. Daniel Mbithi.
Last year Americans bought 6.1 million kilos (m.kg.) valued at $32.8 million. Germany purchased 8.17 m.kg. during the same period and Belgium bought 7.4 m.kg.
Successfully marketing the country’s coffee in Seattle, where it was well received, will likely move the United States into second place.