And it’s a wrap

The past 2 weeks were all about testing our design and interviewing coffee farmers and factory managers. This week we moved back to Nairobi to interview several experts we had visited in our first trip as well, like Solidaridad, CMS and CRI (formerly CRF). Friday we finished our research by meeting up with Julius from UTZ and 2 people from TAHMO. And overall it seems that everyone we spoke to this last few weeks is very enthusiastic about the system we designed. There is a list of possible and/or necessary adjustments we will have to implement for our final design, but we believe it could become a very useful and very feasible system.

In Nyeri we mainly test the different aspects of the system we designed, using (paper and real-size wooden) prototypes and text messaging. In Nairobi we evaluated our design with experts, but also focused on implementation. Which parties could and/or should be involved? Who is going to pay and who will benefit? How (where, on what scale, when) should it be implemented? Should it be tested first? We wish we could provide you all the answers to these questions right here on this blog, but to make sure no one is going to steal our findings we will inform our partners about all this in our final report. But we can give you a small teaser of our conclusions:

-        It would be best to start a pilot set up somewhere in Kenya, to prove the added value of the weather stations and the operability of the forecast software on factory computers.

-        The wooden sign with the current weather forecast should not only be placed at coffee factories, since they are not visited all year long. There are several better places where the sign could also be placed, but then who will be responsible?

-        Every area in Kenya has its own languages. English and Swahili are usually fine, but we should keep in mind that in some less educated rural areas using these languages, or reading in general, could be a problem.

-        Coffee is cultivated throughout whole Africa, but of course not everywhere in Africa. For instance in Kenya the coffee is mostly cultivated in Central Kenya around mount Kenya.  TAHMO’s goal to place weather stations throughout Africa need to be taken into account when writing the implementation plan.

-        There are many players in the coffee market; the farmers, the coffee factories, the cooperatives, the marketing agents, the research institutions, the certifying bodies and the governmental parties. Favorable would be if all could benefit from this project. For us the task to figure out a way to make that happen.

-        The cooperatives we visited performed above average. They are well structured and have a good board. In the future the concept should be available for all the factories. So we need to learn from the factories we visited and maybe make an adaption for those less structured factories.

So this was the last blog from Kenya, the next one will be from the Netherlands where we will be finalizing our design and report in the next 4 weeks. We would like to thank all the people we spoke to in Kenya and all those who arranged our very valuable meetings we had. We would like to especially thank Julius from UTZ and Catherine from CMS for arranging most of our local contacts, as well as our reliable taxi drivers and comfortable place to stay in Nyeri. Thanks everyone and we will keep you posted!

Hiding in the coffee trees

‘Oh, what is that?’

‘It is a new sign that tells the weather information, brought to us by the mzungus (white people)’

‘That is really useful for me’

This is the start of the conversation we figured out some farmers had, when they were bringing their cherries to the coffee factory. Unfortunately, they did not have this conversation in English, but in Kikuyu, the local tribe language. So, we took the freedom to translate it ourselves. They were talking about the big wooden sign that we placed on the factory to test the part of the concept in which weather information is showed in a non-digital way.

The sign stood on a strategically chosen place, so that the farmers always needed to pass it. We tested it on two coffee factories and especially at one factory it was a big happening. Not because there was a sign on the factory, but because there were mzungus on the factory. Our presence took all the attention away from the sign. We ended up hiding between the coffee trees to see what was happening (we could actually do some picking in the meantime, if no one was near the sign). The factory manager was really proud of this new sign and she thought it was her task to inform everybody about it. Although it was nice that she was so involved, in the end we needed to ask her to stand away from the sign for a while, so we could see what was happening if the farmers were not informed or drawn to the sign by the manager. Luckily farmers also stopped at the sign when she was not there, and without exception they were positive about it. Several points of improvement came up, which we will process when we get back to the Netherlands.

At these same factories we tested the computer interface we designed with the factory managers. Before this test we had no clue if the managers were able to use a computer, but now we found out that they have enough experience to operate a program like the one we designed and more importantly: that they actually all have a computer at the factory. Of course the program is not yet perfect, so we found a few points of improvement.

On Wednesday we visited the Nyeri Hill farm, which is about the size of 400 smallholder farms. Paulien had already been there before, but for Jaimie and Wilco it was interesting to see the differences between this professional, structured coffee estate and the smallholder farmers we had visited before. The field manager of the estate reviewed our design and commented on it and together we figured out how our design could also be useful for coffee estates.

 On another note: we are happy to inform you that we have a visitor here in Kenya. Our coach from the TU Delft is now in Nyeri. He joined us on one of our testing days. He was lucky, because this was the day that we had two focus groups. These were held on two different factories, so he was able to attend the focus groups and to see the factories.

So with our coach there as well, we tested our wireless weather information system with some farmers (2 groups of 5 and 6 farmers, both groups received different types of messages) and we discussed the results and experiences these farmers had. Overall the system was well liked and also understood by the farmers. We got good insights in how they were using it and how we could improve it. All farmers were asking us when it would be officially operational, but all we could reply for now is that we hope it will be as soon as possible.

Next to improvements we could make, we also learned a lot about the context of our system and ways of implementation. For example, we saw that the position of the smallholder farmer is really weak compared to the power the marketing agents and buyers have. A whole new research towards positions of all stakeholders could be very useful, but unfortunately not in our reach during this project. Still, it is good to see our project in the bigger picture.

In our first visit to Kenya we told all the farmers that we would return to Kenya and so we did. Only this time we did not need to do interviews with all the farmers again. To not upset them (if you visit one, the word spreads) we paid a visit to all the farmers to bring them the photos of the first trip. The farmers really enjoyed having us over again, even if it was for only a short while.

At the end of every meeting we were asked the question: ‘When do you come back?’ It is hard to look a person in the eye and tell him that you are most probably not coming back, even if you really want to. We needed to explain several times that we are only doing this project for a half-year and that after that the company will take over. (But if we come to Kenya again, we will most certainly visit those nice farmers again!)

Hello? Hello?

Already a week ago, we saw our first glimpses of Kenya’s nature from the car, on our way to Nyeri. The last week past really quick, and it feels like we are already here for a month or so. Time flies when you are having fun!

Until now, we have met two farmers (from the first group), a board member of one of the coops, several people from the DeKUT university (also the farm manager of the university farm), two factory managers and ten more farmers separated in two different focus groups.

To describe the phone calls to those people (who did not know we were back in Kenya) when trying to arrange a meeting:

-        Hello?

-        Hello! This is Paulien speaking, from team Blend

-        Hello?

-        This is Paulien, from team Blend

-        Hello?

-        Team Blend, from the Netherlands

-        Hello?

-        We have visited you about a month ago

-        Hello?

-        From the Netherlands

-        …………. Ooooooh!!! REALLY?!

-        Yes!

-        When are you coming back?

-        We are already back in Kenya!

-        What?! Seriously? When are you coming to visit me again?

-        Well, this afternoon maybe?

-        Yes, yes, of course! You are always welcome!

Like we wrote earlier about the first farmer we have visited, the second farmer was also very happy to see us again, he showed us around on his farm and participated in a test about the USSD system. Both farmers were really excited about our system; something that gives them the opportunity to get weather information, advice about coffee farming and information the factory would like to share with its famers, at home. The second farmer was already explaining to us how he would arrange trainings and meetings to introduce every single farmer to this new system (“And I tell them all to come to mr. Kanja’s farm (which is his own farm) where they can see why my farm is doing better”).

In general, we can say that every single person so far reacted really positive to the system we have designed. The board member, factory managers and farm managers gave us some useful insights about the different parts of our system and (depending on their farming expertise) about the activities in farming throughout the year and the relations of those activities with different types of weather. See our previous blog for some recommendations.

During the two focus groups we arranged, we explained the most important parts of our system. We used SMS to test our idea for the wireless system. To the first group we explained that we would send them a text message with weather forecast for the next two days plus an advice about farming every evening and that they could use this information any way they want to. The second group was told that they could text us any time, after which we would replay with up-to-date weather information and an advice.

Although every single farmer was very used to calling with his phone, texting was a bit more difficult. We gave them a crash course in texting and after a while, they luckily understood how to set up a text message and how to send it to us (except for one, so we agreed that he could call us).

So far, we got at least one text message with a request from every farmer of the second group.

We are very curious to our next meeting with them, where we will discuss how they used the weather information and what recommendations they might have for us.

We also visited the CKCM (Central Kenian Coffee Mill) where the CMS (Coffee Management Services) organized an open day for all kinds of important people in the world of coffee. There were factory managers, board members, promoter farmers and many other people. After visiting several stands (promoting new kinds of coffee trees, chemicals, fertilizers and more) we were welcomed as special guests and could listen to the different speeches from the front row. Most speeches were in Swahili, but our driver took notes for us and provided us with a summary of what had been said after the speeches were done. We met some of the people that had helped us previously in our project and some that we are going to meet in the next couple of weeks, so all together it was an useful day.

Today (Sunday) we finished the big sign that we want to place at two factories on Monday and Tuesday. The sign will tell farmers what the weather for the next couple of days will be, and we will be testing how the farmers are going to react to it. Do they understand what is on it? Do they think it is useful information? Monday and Tuesday are picking days, so most farmers will visit their factory during the day to hand in what they have picked. We are very much looking forward to finding out how they are going to react!

There is so much more we have learned so far and even more we still want to find out, so please keep an eye out for our next blog. We will try to keep you as up to date as possible!

Back in Nyeri

A new phase for our project has begun, starting by sending a (mostly) new group to Kenya. After 2 days in Nairobi, Wilco, Jaimie and Paulien have now arrived in Nyeri where they will stay for the coming two and a half weeks. Paulien also joined the first trip, so she knows how the things come around in Kenya. This is really an advantage for the project, as we do not have to ‘reinvent the wheel’. Since she already knows a lot of our local contacts personally and knows a lot of practical things (like where to do groceries in Nyeri) we are able to start with the project right away. For us personally it is also nice, because we are introduced to the people by Paulien and they had a good experience last time, so they seem to trust and like us from the beginning.

Yesterday we had our first meeting in Nyeri at the Thiruku factory. Of course we started with a short tour around the factory, as Wilco and Jaimie only saw this on the pictures the first group brought with them. A difference with the first visit was that now it is high season, so there were a lot of farmers bringing their cherries. This time instead of one weighing scale there were two weighing scales available. After this tour we started with the interview with one of the board members. He knows a lot about cultivating coffee, as he has a flourishing coffee farm himself. We explained our concept and asked him what he thought about it and what his recommendations would be. He liked the concept and got some useful insights from him. Unfortunately, we are not able to put all those nice insights online as we have to be careful due to confidentiality. Some interesting points were:

-        Instead of only sending weather information we decided to also allow factory employees to send factory specific information. This visit showed us what kind of information the factory would like to send to the farmers.

-        We showed a picture of the sign is designed to communicate weather data to the farmers. The sign looked alright and communicated the right things, but the colour of the text (which is now black) needs to be changed into green or blue. Later we figured out that this was because it would draw more attention.  

-        The computer program was seen as useful. The factory employee will need a training to learn the program, but then he will understand it and he will be able to use it.

Today we visited the DeKUT University to get a second opinion from a coffee expert on our project. The University has its own workshop, so we showed the picture of the sign to the head of the workshop and he was more than happy to help us building it. Tomorrow we are able to pick it up, so we can use it for observation at the factory.

In the afternoon we went to see our first farmer to test the concept from a different perspective. Of course this time we got the whole tour around the farm and for Jaimie and Wilco it was so nice to see all these things in real life and actually know what the others had been talking about. The farmer was really enthusiastic about the whole concept and he understood quite well what it was all about. His wife even took notes and sometimes gave some cleaver insights. The best recommendation that the farmer could make was ‘bring this concept to the factory as soon as possible’.

When we were talking to this farmer it started to rain and we were looking at each other smiling. Why would any person smile if it is starting to rain? Well, this is because we predicted that it would rain in the afternoon around that time. We are keeping an Excel with the weather predictions for the next days. At the end of the day we fill in what the actual weather did. And so far the predictions are luckily quite accurate. At least a lot more accurate than the weather forecasts farmers are currently receiving via TV or radio.

From tomorrow on we are going to test our concept with farmers. They will receive daily text messages (from us) about the weather for one week and at the end of the week we will talk to them about their experiences. So the weather predictions being quite accurate is a great help.

In short, the second group is now in Kenya and already gained a lot of insights. We are thankful for everybody making this project possible. We will keep you all updated!

Update from the Netherlands

Our team has been reunited in the Netherlands for two weeks now. Together, we are working on the solutions, according to the findings of our research. This Friday, the second part of our group: Wilco, Jaimie and Paulien will go to Kenya, Irma and Myrthe will stay in the Netherlands to finish the report and work on the implementation of the solution we found.

We decided to divide the final solution into three parts:

• Communication from weather data to the factory; we developed a computer program/app for this. A factory employee should manage this computer and decides on what data is worth spreading and what data should be presented at the factory.
  
• Communication of that data from the factory to farmers on the factory; this will be a large sign at the gate of the factory or inside, this will be decided during the research of the second visit. This sign presents information about the rain and temperature for the coming two days.
  
• Communication of the same data from the factory to farmers, not present on the factory; this will happen through a wireless service send to the phone of the farmer. During the first visit, we found that all famers have a phone in their possession, which they use on daily basis. This service will allow push messages, but also pull. This means the factory employee can send messages when necessary, but the farmer is also able to request information himself.

We have come up with several concepts, which we will present to our coach and one of the companies tomorrow. This provides the ability of adapting the concepts according to the feedback before the prototypes will be taken to Kenya.

In Kenya, the prototypes will be tested with a cooperative board, several factories and farmers. We will try to inform you as much as possible on this blog about the findings, but as mentioned before, we have to be careful due to confidentiality.

We will keep you posted!

Cycles, cycles, cycles …

That’s quite a long time you did not hear from us… sorry!

From now on, it is hard for us to write climate related information on this blog, since we do not want to expose too much information which the companies we work for would not like.

One of the greatest differences between Kenya and the Netherlands lays in perception of the word ‘coffee’. In Kenya, we learned at the farms that coffee is seen as gold, as cash.

“Why did you chose the crop coffee?” “Because it gives me money.” “Which activity do you like the most regarding cultivating coffee?” “Picking the cherries when they are ripe.” “Why do you like this activity the most?” “Because the cherries bring me money.” We did hear other explanations, like “When I’m bored, I just go to my chamber (farm in Kikuyu)  and start any activity” but the main message remains the financial part.

However, in the Netherlands the perception of coffee is definitely about the drink. A warm drink which helps you to stay awake whenever you need it. Asking someone out on a date but also asking whether someone needs  a break, both contain the words: “Shall we have a coffee?”

The farmers do not know how we drink our coffee and especially not how much, and both the farmers and we have no idea about the journey our coffee has travelled before we purchased it.

Before the form of coffee as we know it, there has happened a lot. It starts at the coffee farm: the tree produces flowers, the flowers turn into green berries, the green berries turn into red cherries and the farmer picks these cherries. The farmer brings the cherries to the factory (which belongs to a cooperative). At the factory they sort their cherries into two categories: good (the red cherries) and bad (the under ripe, the overripe and the diseased). The good cherries go to the weighing station at the factory, there it is weighed and written down how much comes from which farmer. The cherries go through the wet mill, where the red pulp is removed and two yellowish beans remain: the parchment. The parchment is dried on drying beds in the factory and then stored. The bad cherries are taken home by the farmer, where he/she has to dry the cherries him/herself. When they are dry, the farmer takes it to the factory again, weighs and leaves the dry cherries there.

The factory sells the dried parchment and the dried cherries to a marketing agent (for instance CMS). The marketing agent has a dry mill where the two categories are separately processed. After this process, the beans have lost their yellowish skin which result in green beans.

These beans are sold through an auction to several roasters. This is the point where the farmers receive the payment for their coffee. Up front they have no idea how much this will be, because this depends on the market at that particular time. Then, the roasters roast the beans which results in coffee beans as we know it!

All farms we have visited were self sufficient in their own way. Two examples:

• In the farms, water tanks are placed to collect rain water. They (all we have seen) do this by fixing pipes to the roofs of the buildings, leading it to the tank. The harvested rainwater is  used for washing and for drinking. Other farmers had multiple tanks, for which they use one to irrigate the kitchen garden.

• The farmer cultivates Napier grass, this grass is used as food for the cow. The cow gives milk (to sell and to consume by the farmer) and leaves feces behind. The feces are used as manure, to fertilize the coffee trees. This organic fertilizer increases the quantity and quality of the coffee, which results in more money for the farmer, this money he/she can use for buying seeds to plant more Napier grass.

We met one farmer, she was a leading (promoting) farmer, active in a water resource association. She founded this together with a few others, using the Green Belt Movement as an inspiration*. The Green Belt Movement is a Kenyan environmental organization, empowering communities (especially women) to conserve the environment and improve livelihoods. This means, apart from Western organizations, Kenyans are also trying to improve these matters, although not all farmers are able to look broader than just their own farm. Trying to get the smallholder farmers to see and understand the bigger picture will be an important challenge.

Today, we (team Kenya) closed our research for now, no more interviews or focusgroups with farmers. Team Netherlands is compiling all of our findings into a report. We are very thankful to everyone participating in this research, with now especially thanks to Regina, our interpreter, Thomas, our driver for the past two weeks, and of course all the farmers!!

Our next step is to develop a few concepts and finally choose one concept to develop into a working prototype. Team Netherlands then will transform in team Kenya and test the product with the farmers we have spoken to already. Today at CMS (Coffee Management Services) we verified a few of the results and made a start with the implementation plan, on which the new team Netherlands will work coming month.

* http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/

“Het komt zoals het gaat” (it will come as it goes)

Up until now, we have visited seven smallholder farmers of two different cooperatives and we have spoken to the senior field supervisor of an estate. What a huge difference between cooperatives and estates, we could not have imagined this when still in the Netherlands.

The rest of the week, we will visit three more smallholder farmers. This farmer lives in a world completely different from ours! Therefore we will try to sketch an image for you:

Farming is their life, some farmers have other activities apart from the coffee farming, but for most of them, coffee is their main business. The farmers we have spoken to wore fancy clothes although dirty, men were wearing pantaloons and women nice skirts. They all spoke English, but not all sufficient enough to understand everything, then our interpreter Regina translated it in Kikuyu, the language spoken in Nyeri. Each farmer made us feel very welcome and showed us how proud they were about having us in their home! Smallholder farmers have their house on their piece of land, usually quite small but all with a comfortable sitting room in which we could held the interview. In the sitting rooms they had a lot of posters, pictures and calendars of the president Kenyatta, the cabinet and one even had a poster of ‘the’ royal wedding (William and Kate). All had mobile phones, radios and apart from one farmer, they all had a television and often even a DVD-player. We have seen a lot of water tanks, collecting rainwater out of the gutters of the buildings, used for drinking and washing, but not for irrigation. Only one farmer used this water for irrigation, and at the same time for keeping fish…

The youngest (female) farmer we met was 43 years old, and the oldest (male) 85! He seemed very fit and alive for someone that age, he still manages his farm together with his wife and even takes care of their young grandson. The properties (farms) ranged from 0,5 acre to 3 acres. Farms are almost all inherited by the son(s) of the family. When there are multiple sons, the property is be divided into several pieces. This means that properties shrink each time when parents pass their work to their sons. The children of the farmers are pushed towards education and they are very proud of the fact that they are able to provide that education. Several times we were told that the money they receive from the coffee is used to pay the school fee. Money is for many farmers a big issue, since they receive the money earned with coffee after the auction of the beans. This is only once a year and can be up to 9 months after delivering coffee at the factory. The rest of the year they receive money from the other crops they cultivate, mostly maize, bananas, beans, Napier grass (food for the cow), macadamia, (sweet) potatoes, passion fruit and avocado. Cows and chickens are held as cattle, since cows produce milk and manure (good for the trees!) and chickens produce eggs.

Our interviews contain several tasks given to the farmer. They are asked to make two timelines, one of a regular day in their life and one about a whole year regarding cultivating coffee. This provides grip for the conversation and a logical order in asking questions. After the timelines we have a few other tasks, which we circulate per farmer since it is not possible ask the same level of questions to all farmers. At the end of the interview we used to ask if they have ever heard of certification. It appears that not many farmers know about certification, what it is, what it means for them as farmers, which benefits are attached to certification and if they themselves are certified or not. All farmers were keen on learning more about coffee farming! This was very interesting to see. Since we went to farmers of two different cooperatives and of six different factories, there was a large difference in received training. The farmers told us about organizations providing training to them: the agricultural officer, the Wanbugu farm, the factories and universities. They perceived these information channels as very trustworthy, because they see the results of these trainings in their own healthy coffee crop.

We still learn new things about coffee in particular every day. One very straightforward thing for example: The bigger the cherry, the better the quality of the coffee. Regina, who is also a coffee expert, was so impressed by the big and shiny cherries at one of the farms that she could not resist putting some of them in her pocket (although in the very end, she did put them in the basket for the farmer). On the same farm we had a very interesting interview setting: the plantation itself! While we all (including our driver and the guy of the factory who pointed us the direction of the farm) helped picking cherries (apparently you are supposed to help picking when being on the plantation), we asked the landlady all our questions. Once-in-a-lifetime experience!

The types of coffee trees that are planted on each farm differ a lot. Some of them only have (or plan to have) the Riuru 11 or Battiane that are least affected by pests and diseases, while others only have the traditional SL trees. The choice of which trees to cultivate mainly depends on the preferences of the farmer, some like spraying, some do not, and some are willing to spent money on planting new trees, some are not.

During the timeline exercise we found out that many smallholder farmers cannot draw an exact timeline of their coffee activities over a year. Every farmer has a global picture about what activities to carry out during the different months, but none of them could exactly give us an overview with different activities for every month. To know which chemicals to spray in what time of the year, the farmer can use a calendar with this information that is provided by the factory. During an interview with the supervisor of a big coffee estate, we found out that there really is a routine in different activities during the year, depending on the seasons. He also explained that during the long rain (around April) flowers appear, which turn into berries and during the short rain into cherries (late crop). The same will happen the other way around: flowers appear in October during the short rain, they will change into cherries during the long rains (early crop).

Note: berries are green, cherries are red, ripe and ready to be picked.

In one of our interviews we had a very interesting intervention: The phone of the farmer ringed, so he took a moment to read the text message he just received. Regina knew exactly what the message was about because she received the same message: it was a warning from the Nyeri Water and Sewerage Company ltd. that there will be a tap water shortage. If you are a member of the NWASCO (the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council), you will receive these messages. Finding out that such ways of information sharing is used in Kenya, was a new insight that we got coincidental. The farmer reacted a little laconic after asking what he would do now: “There is nothing to do about it, we just wait until the water comes”. This is an attitude that we have seen more often during the farm visits last week, also regarding a lack of rainfall after predicted rain in the weather forecasts (“I cannot do anything about it, I just pray”).

Weather information about water availability is the most important information for the farmers. They especially need to know when the rain is coming so they can prepare for it: to apply fertilizer, which can only be done when it is raining; and to do mulching, which has positive effects for the microclimate around the coffee trees.

So, lots of information we gathered during our interviews and observations! Conclusion: money comes first, rain is second.

A few firsts

Again, a blog with firsts…

 

We finally saw Mount Kenya! When visiting the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT, kind of funny for the Dutchies) we entered the parking lot after our meeting, and wow, there it was. The mountain starts very flat and then all of the sudden it rises high in the air. The location of this university was beautiful again; we really took into questioning what the Kenyans would think about our campus.

And then, the field work part of our research started! On Friday we visited two farms of the Mutheka cooperative in Nyeri. We started at the factory Kamanyu, after which we visited one of their farms during the morning. In the afternoon we went to the Chorong’i factory and completed the day at one of their farms.

At the university we met Regina, a coffee expert and Q(-uality) grader who will accompany us while visiting the farms as our interpreter, for in case the farmers only speak Kiswahili or Kikuyu. She learned us about the multiple ways of brewing coffee: boiling, dripping, steeping and pressurizing. At the university they grow their own coffee and they process, package and sell it themselves as well. We drank one of the packages that arrived that day and brewed it through steeping, using the French press. The coffee was very nice!

Dan, of the division of research, technology management and community linkages helped us with his (positively) critical view on our research. At the end of the visits to the farmers, we would like to conduct a focus group with some farmers as well. This means having a group discussion with approximately five farmers at the same time, so that they can chip in on each other’s answers. This can help us in developing a solution for the problem together with them. Dan was very enthusiastic about this plan, so we hope we have time and the possibilities to arrange this as well. 

The information we are receiving from all the experts (companies but farmers as well) makes the main issue of our research more clear each time. If we are repeating some of the earlier findings in this blog, it is only because things have gotten even clearer for us.

What we noticed and learned most during the farm visits:

-          Both farmers we visited were around 60 years old, this confirms our literature and expert research.

-          The farmers were very welcoming to us, and one was even proud of the fact that we (as white researchers) were in his house.

-          They are very proud of Kenya, Kenyatta (the president) and of being a Kenyan that is cultivating coffee.

-          They own (smart)phones, televisions, radios and DVD-players. Note that it might be that we are only directed to the more wealthy farmers by the factories, but we were very surprised.

-          The non-availability of meteorological information; farmers do watch the news and weather predictions on television, listen to it on the radio and receive information from the factories, but this information is not accurate enough (highlighted by one of the farmers we spoke). If they want to receive more accurate information, they will have to request this at the meteorological station itself, but this rarely happens since the farmers simply do not know about this opportunity. Still the following questions arise: Is it even possible make long-term predications on rainfall periods? Is keeping track of micro climates more valuable than the climate of a very big area?
We think that we can come up with a combination of both, by putting the stations of TAHMO on the factory level of the cooperative.

-          The two farms we visited up until now, were both cultivating other (food) crops, like maize, bananas and macadamia nuts. They also owned cattle next to the coffee crops, like chickens and cows.

-          The smallholder farmers employ a maximum of two employees during the picking seasons.

-          One of the farmers did not know in which month what exactly should happen on his farm regarding the coffee. At the end of the interview we asked if he would prefer weather data/predictions or tasks that are based on these predictions, he answered he would prefer to receive the tasks to carry out.

-          As far as we have seen and heard from experts, most smallholder farmers do not use an irrigation system and thus have to fully rely on the rain.

These where our first findings, next week we have a busy schedule ahead of us. Each morning and each afternoon we have an appointment at a farm or with one of the managers, which means the evenings will be for finishing the documents and writing this blog J. If everything goes well, the week after we will try to do a focus group session. This means next week you can expect more detailed findings.

From berry to coffee

Apparently the rain we wrote about last time was a little bit more than expected: the Sunday Nation newspaper even wrote an entire page about the damages due to the water and the necessity of a power cut in order to prevent electrocutions. Happy morning news! (NOT)

The same newspaper also wrote an article about the coffee, tea and cocoa prices, which are expected to rise next year. This will bring a welcome relief to the Kenyan Farmers, but also for the total Kenyan economy.

Sunday evening, we finally got our third group member in Nairobi: Paulien arrived! The next day we spend on driving to Nyeri, a small town located close to Mount Kenya and hosting very good agricultural land for (among others) coffee plantations.

Catherine, our contact from CMS (Coffee Management Service), did a really great job in making a schedule for our first visits and introducing us to the management of one coffee estate and two coffee cooperations (Thank you, Catherine!). Both an estate and cooperation cultivate coffee, but an estate is a big coffee farm with many employees, while a cooperation is a society of many different smallholder farms, who work together.

On Teusday, we started our day with visiting Nyeri Hill Farm, the biggest estate in the region (for about 1400 hectares of which 340 planted with coffee trees). The company provided us a very nice drive on their ground: next to coffee trees, we saw lots of tea crop, some big trees providing shadow for the coffee and a whole community of houses, schools and even a hospital for the community. Since it is picking season right now, we saw a lot of pickers working on the grounds, separating the ripe, red berries from the trees. 

The second visit was to Mutheku Cooperative, a cooperative with one chairman on top. We had a very interesting discussion about problems regarding climate change that are encountered by the smallholders nowadays. The main question was: ‘How is it possible that the knowledge gained from our fathers is less usable nowadays?’ We talked about how we could implement our research outcomes in a product/service and we discussed the importance of the availability and accessibility of the weather and climate information for farmers.

The third and last meeting for this day was at the Thiriku Cooperative headquarter, a cooperative that is led by a board of five representatives of smallholders. We had a short introduction meeting, after which the board and the supervisor of the drying process showed us the processing of the berries: from smallholders bringing the berries to the headquarter where their harvest is weighted and captured, until the final storing of the dry beans. The tour was very fun, and at the same time helpful in understanding the process!

We gained a lot of insights that we have listed below.

The process of a coffee tree

1.     A tree is planted and maintained for three years (in this period, the tree does not produce any berries)

2.     After the rain season, the flowering starts and lasts for about six months

3.     The flowers will turn into berries in the last half of the flowering period

4.     The ripe, red berries are picked

5.     Old suckers (more than five years) are pruned, since these will not produce berries anymore. Due this pruning, new shoots will grow and these will produce berries after two years

This process takes place twice a year: one big season (after the big rain season) and one small season (after the small rain season).

The process of cultivating coffee in a cooperative

1.     Red berries are picked in the fields and brought to the factory

2.     In a second selection, less ripe, overripe and sick berries are excluded from the process

3.     A wet mill removes the skin of the berries

4.     The result, two beans per berry, are dried on drying beds outside

5.     A third selection (during the drying process) excludes the sick beans from the process

6.     The beans are transported to the market and sold

This process takes 14-21 days, depending on the weather. After this, another company takes care of the remaining steps:  

7.     A dry mill removes a second white skin from the final beans

8.     Finally the beans are roasted, now they are ready to brew a nice Kenyan coffee!

Note that there is a small difference in the process at an Estate. Most of the estates own their own dry mill, so only step 8 has to be carried out by the next party.

About climate change

During the literature research we did in the Netherlands, we already found out that Sub-Saharan Africa is getting warmer and that there will be more and unpredictable periods of rain.

When there is a big, unexpected and severe rain fall, the amount of berry diseases will increase, and furthermore, mature berries will fall down from the tree and thus cannot be used anymore.

A dry spell however, will lead to a decreasing production of coffee, since the flowers will be affected. Furthermore, smallholders need to borrow money from the bank to buy a specific fertilizer, which increases the production of coffee. But, if there is not enough rain, the fertilizer will not work, it will even ruin the crop! In this case, farmers will not apply the fertilizer and this will result in less production. Less production means less income, so the loan and interest cannot be paid back to the bank. New fertilizer cannot be bought, children cannot go to school anymore, there will be more illiteracy and also more criminality: a vicious circle with very bad outcomes.

If a coffee farm does not have an irrigation system (like most smallholders and estates), a difference in rainfall pattern very much influences the production of coffee.

Since the climate change also results in a higher temperature, the coffee trees need to grow higher on the hill (where it is colder). But at one time, the end of the hill is reached and the crop cannot be cultivated with the best possible temperatures anymore.

Exact climate data is not captured yet but people see the climate changing (the rain season now starts in October instead of September; years ago it was easy to produce 20kg coffee per bush, nowadays it is a struggle to get 10kg, etc.) but no one knows exactly how much the rainfall (in mm) or the sunshine (in hours) has changed and thus a direct relationship cannot be proved.

After these interesting visits we had some time left for some physical leisure. We went to visit the equator where we experienced the effect of magnetic fields on a water stream in real life. At this moment we are preparing to visit the Dedan Kimathi University of technology and the farmers themselves. We are looking forward to share the next findings with you, so we will keep you posted!