Italy and Kenya partnership to revitalize Kenya’s coffee sector

According to the Agriculture and Food Authority, Kenya is the third largest Arabica coffee producer in Africa. In 2022/2023, 111,902 hectares produced 48,649 MT of clean coffee worth USD 204.5 million. Currently, coffee is grown in 33 counties spread within the Central, Eastern, Rift Valley, Western, Coast, and Nyanza Regions. Kenya categorizes coffee producers into cooperative societies and estates. Additionally, coffee is the main source of livelihoods for 800,000 smallholder farmers across 637 cooperatives.

The ARABIKA project, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, has trained 30,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya. These farmers come from 21 coffee cooperative societies across seven counties. The training focuses on sustainable coffee production, climate-smart agricultural techniques, transparency, and good governance at both farmer and cooperative levels.

Working with existing structures such as cooperatives significantly ensures continuous transfer of information and knowledge. In the coffee sector, cooperatives promote the welfare and economic interests of their members. This makes it easier to reach targeted communities.

The ARABIKA project focuses on improving management and governance skills thus supporting both smallholder farmers and their leaders in this area. To enhance the basic managerial skills of the farmers, 63 Community Based Trainers. 231 coffee growers and 84 technicians and coffee tasters have been trained. Skilling areas included coffee growing, record keeping, gender issues, income management, cash flow, climate-smart practices, and composting techniques.

Kenyan coffee has always been exported and rarely consumed locally. This story is about to change! Smallholder farmers are now learning what happens to their coffee after it leaves the farm. They understand processes like pulping, drying, hulling, polishing, grading, sorting, grinding, and tasting. The ARABIKA project leads this effort by financing exhibitions, promoting exchange visits, and facilitating Trainers of Trainees. Most coffee cooperative societies are now packaging coffee for the local market, gradually bringing coffee back to the producing farmers.

Focusing on knowledge enhancement in Coffee Cooperative Societies and for smallholder farmers is showing good results. Coffee quality and income are improving.

International Coffee Day is a celebration of the coffee sector’s diversity, quality and passion on 1^st October. It’s a chance for coffee lovers to share their passion and support millions of farmers dependent on this aromatic crop.

ARABIKA is a project that results from collaboration between the Governments of Kenya and Italy. It is funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). The project targets the entire coffee supply chain. It focuses on the organizational and management aspects of producer cooperatives. There is also a marketing component which is aimed at improving the quality of the final product. The goal is to enhance access to more lucrative markets i.e both locally and globally. This project aligns with national and county strategies for developing the coffee value chain. CEFA is the lead partner, along with E4Impact and AVSI.