Why young Meru farmer has gone back to coffee business
BY JOSEPH KABIA
for years, Thuura village in Imenti North, Meru County, was a top coffee-producing area in Central Kenya. Suddenly, most of the farmers abandoned the crop after it lost its allure, owing to dwindling returns, poor prices and inadequate knowledge-skills.
Unlike other farmers, Kelvin Gitonga did not uproot his entire coffee bushes. Rather, he took cautious measures to enable him meet the family’s financial needs. He tried a hand at various crops like maize and beans.
Gitonga’s father had left him 50 coffee trees (a mixture of K7 and Ruiru varieties). But these were for long unattended. Gitonga started nurturing them. Eventually, he developed an interest in growing coffee, following many training and online tutorials on how to grow high-quality coffee.
He added an extra 150 trees on slightly more than a quarter acre piece of land.
Today, he is part of a group aspiring young coffee farmers under the banner: ‘Youth in Coffee’ that aims to address succession challenges that have affected coffee productivity.
“The SL28 variety that I grow can yield up to 100 kilos per tree every year if it is fed well, fetching more than Ksh100 per kilo, there is good money in coffee.”
Gitonga, 30, has received good returns from coffee, and he is breaking the succession barrier which has been a major constraint across the nation.
“My father used to grow coffee but he abandoned it along the way and concentrated on other food crops. There was no money in the coffee,” he recalls.
However, through motivation from successful coffee farmers in his Thuura village, he would, in 2019, after attending several workshops on coffee farming, take a leap of faith.
He has never turned his back. Interestingly, he has now become a beacon of hope to other young coffee farmers. He is also part of the Young Coffee Producers Whatsapp Group, where he gets the latest information on best practices, feeding and canopy management.
“We are conducting a learning experience reminiscent of ‘an exchange programme’, where we visit each other’s farm and learn from their success and challenges,” he explains.
Gitonga says that coffee farming is lucrative if done with expert advice. In 2023, he was part of the young people from as far as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya that participated in a ‘Youth in Coffee’ seminar that was organised by sector players in Kenya.
He says the many trainings have boosted his coffee productivity. “As a young person, I chose coffee because I knew its value as the second-most traded commodity in the world,” adds Gitonga.
Gitonga is a beacon of hope to young coffee farmers, and is part of Thuura Organic Coffee Farmers Group and, Young Coffee Producers Whatsapp Group, where they exchange the latest information on best practices, feeding and canopy management.
He started with about 150 trees of SL28 coffee variety. Over the years, he leased more land to grow coffee and expand his trees. Currently, he has 400-420 coffee trees.
His first harvest yielded around 800 kilograms of coffee from 150 trees, which he sold at Ksh80 per kilogramme, earning him Ksh120,000. Currently, he has a total of one acre under coffee (his total acreage on coffee).
He explains that, depending on the terrain of the land, an acre can hold up to 500 trees. Gitonga is upbeat that the next season will yield an average of 10 kilograms per tree. He hopes that, in the next season, he will harvest between 4000-4200kg.
Revamped the sector
“The SL28 variety that I grow can yield up to 100 kilos per tree every year if it is fed well. And the coffee can fetch more than Ksh100 per kilo. There is good money in coffee,” he says, adding that the new coffee reforms have clearly revamped the sector.
He notes that the cost of inputs remains the biggest challenge, and has been a deterrent to young farmers. The cost of production of cherry has increased by Ksh10 from the current Ksh41 per kg of cherry, from the previous Ksh31.
“I use between Ksh4,000-5,000 to spray the trees in one round, and I spray twice a month, depending on the season and the calendar. However, during harvesting time, I totally do not spray the coffee. In a year, I spray about eight months, spending around Ksh40,000,” notes Gitonga.
Accessing coffee seedlings is another bottleneck that coffee farmers have to contend with. For example, seedlings cost around Ksh50. This, added to the cost of preparation for planting and labour costs, is a heavy burden on smallholder farmers.
“I source for goat manure from Isiolo and Marsabit for coffee planting. The cost for a full lorry of manure ranges between Ksh48,000 and Ksh50,000. During harvest time, I pay the farmhands Ksh10 per each kilogram, which is still costly,” adds Gitonga, who is also a member Thuura Organic Coffee Farmers Group.
Despite pests and diseases, such as coffee berry disease, leaf miner and root die-back, he says he has seen great improvement in his crop.
Gitonga adds that proper feeding and canopy management is the holy grail of productivity. He adds that canopy management involves the structure of the coffee plant.
“I grow the SL28 variety, which is a high-end coffee. Most people like leaving coffee trees with about four branches. These are too many. During harvest-time, the branches get in the way. To produce the best grade of coffee, you need canopy management. You also need one stem (and the stem should not be bushy). On that one stem, you should have about 20 branches, ending up with 40 stems. Cut the heads of the trees so that they do not produce more stems,” he advises.
“It is also advisable to remove the secondary branches after the third year. Always allow the secondary branches to produce cherries just once.”
Gitonga’s mission is to own at least five acres under coffee, for that will qualify him to be labelled an “estate farmer”, hence get more privileges and rights.
“We urge the government and other stakeholders to help coffee farmers get the best prices. An improvement in pricing will attract more youth to coffee farming,” he concludes.