Farmers turn to new coffee variety

By BRYAN TUMWA

Kakamega, Kenya: As the rains continue pounding Western Kenya, some farmers in Kakamega County are preparing their farms for a new variety of coffee.

The 50 farmers who have organised themselves into a group called Liloba Welfare Group have resolved to plant the crop instead of sugarcane and maize in order to reap better returns from their farms.

Coffee growing had significantly reduced in the county but in light of the benefits being witnessed as a result of growing the new Batian variety, more farmers have begun signing up to grow the crop.

Arnold Andabwa, the chairperson of the group, says farmers in the county had resorted to planting the new variety because of the short period it took to mature and the high yields it produced.

“Coffee can do very well in this region with fertile soils. The crop is not labour intensive and can be grown economically on a quarter an acre. Batian variety takes between 11 and 13 months to mature,” said Andabwa.

250 STEMS ON QUARTER ACRE

The group’s nursery located at Andabwa’s farm in Elwesero in Lurambi constituency has a total of 250,000 seedlings. Each of the stems goes for Sh30. The seedlings are grown under a canvas of a dark net which Andabwa says was procured from Amiran, a Nairobi based agro company.

“250 stems can be planted on a quarter an acre. A kilogramme of coffee goes for Sh30 which means under the best conditions, one can make up to Sh1.8 million per year. One can also elect to plant short term crops like vegetables between the coffee plants,” he said.

Andabwa has already started preparing four acres of land in which to plant 3,000 stems of Batian coffee, pieces of farm where he traditionally planted maize. The rest of the stems would be sold to individual farmers and institutions.

They acquired the seedlings, which are now six months old in the nursery, from Ruiru-based Coffee Research Foundation to which the group is affiliated.

NEVER SELL LAND

“Maintaining the nursery is not a difficult job because all that is needed is to put water every day and apply liquid manure every week. There is a worker available all the time to ensure that the nursery is maintained,” he said.

The group plans to establish pulping and milling machines in order to increase their income through value addition.

Clement Mbakaya, a farmer in Lurambi who owns 1, 000 stems of the coffee variety expresses confidence at the prospect of the industry being revitalized.

“Coffee is gold and we have come to appreciate this fact because of the potential of the crop to earn farmers good income. Once every farmer realises how precious this crop is, they will never sell land to make money instead they will see land as a very important resource,” he said.

Kakamega Deputy Governor Prof Philip Kutima says farmers need to perform alternative activities on their farms in order to make money.

“The population of the county continues increasing which has ended up reducing the sizes of farms due to subdivisions,” said Kutima.