Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi signs coffee deal in Korea

Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi signs an Mou with President of Good Beans Limited Seonggyu Gang towards the establishment of a coffee processing plant in Baringo, complete with a coffee business inormation centre to help the partnership market the finished products in the international market. (PHOTO: VINCENT MABATUK/ STANDARD)

The county government has signed a memorandum of understanding with two Korean firms for the development of the coffee value chain.

The agreement with Good Beans Limited and Bosung Company to the tune of Sh202 million will see the establishment of a coffee processing and packaging plant.

There will also be a Coffee Business Information Centre that will be a reference point for marketing coffee products on the global market.

An earlier Sh101 million MoU signed with Korea's World Best Friend and Korea International Co-operation Agency has seen the ongoing implementation of coffee industry revival programmes, which included training and the distribution of seedlings to farmers in coffee-growing areas.

The grants will also enable farmers to build their capacity to increase production.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Suwon city in Korea, Governor Benjamin Cheboi, who was on a four-day official trip to the country, said the relationship between Korea and Baringo County had grown steadily over four years.

"We have had good development progress based on the different memorandums we signed with our Korean partners over three years ago and which we now need to broaden for the mutual benefit of the people of Baringo and Korea ," he said.