Exciting news from Kenya
Social Good
The Thirikwa Farmers Co-op in Kenya has just broken the record for the highest price fetched for coffee in the country, ever!
“There were ululations and celebrations yesterday in Thirikwa when management declared a historic payment rate of 119.10 Kenyan shillings per kilogram of coffee cherries,” exporter Peter Githinji Njuki wrote in an email this morning.
“This is the highest rate so far in the country and I don’t think there is anybody else who will surpass this. I believe this will be good news to Campos as Thirikwa was their project in Kenya.”
This is a titanic triumph for the group of 3,000 coffee farmers, who not long ago were producing coffee in humble quantities while fetching a fraction of the price per kilogram.
When we initially visited Thirikwa in Kenya’s Nyeri region, farming equipment was too expensive for local farmers, and the job of transporting coffee cherries was being done by foot. Many of the 3,000 farmers were carrying heavy bags for up to six hours each day. As such, we purchased a tractor for the cooperative.
What may seem like a simple addition has made a serious impact on the community. A weight was quite literally lifted from the farmers’ shoulders, work speeds increased and earnings more than tripled. And now, they’re breaking records!
Improving the quality of coffee production and increasing the earnings for farmers enables farmers to invest in schooling, healthcare and hospitals in their own communities. It is this ripple effect that builds with every community, and it’s evident in every delicious cup of Campos coffee we drink.
Congratulations to the farmers of Thirikwa Farmers Co-op! This is why we do what we do!