Located in the picturesque Nandi Hills (also known as the home of champions), the co-operative is nestled atop one of the topmost hills in the region. If you were to visit Kapkiyai Farmers Cooperative a few years ago, you might have noticed something striking: all 38 members were men. At the time, women existed on the periphery of the coffee industry in Kapkiyai. Although women played essential roles in coffee production, such as picking ripe cherries and carrying the loads down the hills after harvest, men were the ones who owned the coffee trees, decision-making process, and the profits reaped from their production.
In 2010, Kapkiyai began to receive support from the Coffee Initiative and the training in both agronomy and the management of the co-operative and wet mill emphasized gender inclusion in the coffee industry. With time, Kapkiyai management began to see the potential of including women in the co-operative. “Women are the ones that look after the children. They are the ones that work on the farms. They are the ones that bring the coffee down the hills (to the co-operative for processing). It was time for them to get involved in sales,” said Chairman David Saina.
Today, 106 of the 398 members of the Kapkiyai Farmers Co-operative Society are women. Women also produced 55,000 kilograms of the 200,114 total cherries produced by Kapkiyai in 2015, a contribution that played a significant role in helping the co-operative purchase an eco-pulper, a new pulping machine that processes 1,500 kilograms of coffee cherry per hour. “Without women, we would not have this machine,” said Chairman Saina.
Country of origin: Kenya
Region: Nandi, Rift Valley
Farmer/Farm: Kapkiyai Farmers Cooperative
Elevation: 2000-2030m
Variety: SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, Batian, K7
Processing Method: washed
Tasting notes: tomato, gooseberry, white grapefruit, lime
Specialty coffee, 100% Arabica, carefully grown in a precise geographical area, carefully picked, processed, selected, and freshly roasted, in small batches, specific to the origin and method of processing.
Delivery: We deliver daily from Monday to Friday in the country by express courier within 1-2 working days. For orders above 200 lei the delivery is free.
