Established in 1969, the Kaiguri factory is located near the town of Kaiguri in Kenya's Nyeri region. Besides the SL 28, SL 34, Ruiru 11 and Baitan coffee varieties, other crops grown by farmers here are maize, beans, arrow roots, sweet potato and potato. Farmers producing specifically for Kaiguri have planted a variety of shade trees inlcuding: grevellea, Cordia Abysinicca, nandi flame, Prunus Africana, Croton Machrostychus, Themeda Triandra, Olea Africana, Vitex Keniensis. The main harvest here starts in October and each farmer has an honest average of about 200 trees.
After harvesting ripe cherry, farmers deliver their coffee to the factory where it is depulped using water from the Gura river. (Wastewater is managed through the use of soaking pits to insure that the nutrient rich water created during depulping will not be returned to the nearby water source without proper treatment. This additional step will cut down the risk of contamination, after adequate time for reabsorption the water will be recirculated. Kaiguri is currently using four soaking pits for wastewater management.) Once depulped, the coffee is fermented overnight, washed and soaked, then spread out on raised beds to begin its drying process. Drying can take up to 15 days depending on the weather. It is also hand sorted and turned at this stage.
The long term goal is to increase coffee production through farmer training, ready access to inputs, Good Agricultural Practice seminars, and providing the most current printed materials on sustainable farming.
For more information on Kenyan coffee, visit our Kenya origin page.
