Colombia coffee farmers, researchers in Kenya for knowledge sharing

A delegation of coffee farmers and researchers from Colombia on Tuesday toured Nyeri County for a meeting with over 200 local growers drawn from various parts of the country.

The delegation, under the auspices of Colombia National Federation of Coffee Growers, which is in the country for five days toured coffee farms, Gikanda Farmers Cooperative Society and Gichatha-ini coffee factory to familiarize with the Kenyan coffee industry.

The tour is a follow-up of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s visit to Colombia last September, where he pushed for advanced cooperation between the two nations to realize better yields and income for Kenyan coffee farmers. Colombia is one of the largest coffee producers in the world.

On Tuesday, the team held a peer-to-peer session with the Kenyan coffee farmers on growing bushes with higher yields, crop fertilization, harvesting, milling and marketing.

“We are happy to meet the foreign farmers and exchanging ideas on the best practices of coffee farming. We have learnt about good practice of coffee farming. We have learnt about spacing of one square-metre instead of our practice of three square-metre and the best tree varieties that can increase yields,” said Stephen Wabwire, a coffee farmer from Trans Nzoia county.

Another farmer, Samuel Ruiru Macharia from Nyeri, said: “we are grateful for the reforms by the government. We hope we will have money in our pockets.”