Gusii Coffee Farmers Cooperative union (GCFCU) and Good Beans signs a memorandum
Coffee farmers in Kisii and Nyamira counties are set to benefit following an agreement between Gusii Coffee Farmers Cooperative union ( GCFCU) and Good Beans, a South Korean company to buy coffee directly from the union photo /Elizabeth Angira
Coffee farmers in Kisii and Nyamira counties.
By: Elizabeth Angira
Coffee farmers in Kisii and Nyamira counties are set to benefit following an agreement between Gusii Coffee Farmers Cooperative unions (GCFCU) and Good Beans, a South Korean company to buy coffee directly from the union.
Kisii County Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and cooperative development Executive Committee Member, Esman Onsarigo Good Beans Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kang Sunggyu would buy the coffee, ship it to Korea and market the Kenyan coffee.
He said the Union affiliated to several coffee cooperative societies will sign an agreement with the company and appealed to farmers to embrace proper coffee husbandry to boost the quality and quantity of the bean to enhance their earnings.
“We have confidence in the union’s management and the Board. The county will support the union. I urge the farmers to get quality seedlings from the union and cooperative societies to increase coffee production” Onsarigo, flanked by the Union’s Chief Executive Officer, Robert Mainya noted.
Prof. Joseph Keyah, presidential Task force chairman on coffee reforms said South Korea consumes 170,000 metric tons of coffee per year against 40,000 metric tons produced in Kenya and appealed to farmers to increase production to meet the demand in the market.
The chairman, who accompanied Sunggyu, Park Soyoung, an officer at the Korean Embassy in Kenya and Jane Mbagara, Good beans manager to the Union said the buyer will sign a contract with the union to export coffee periodically.
“When a county and the Union work together there is success. I know there will be a fight and urge the county to protect the Union” Keyah said, adding they have opened the market for buyers to compete for farmers’ coffee across the country.
The official lauded president Uhuru Kenyatta for initiating the Reforms, saying it has helped link producers and buyers’ seats on the same table to discuss ways to boost coffee farmers’ earnings unlike before.
Mainya said coffee from the Gusii community was among the best in the world, adding that selling the crop directly to the buyer was long overdue, adding it will break the chain of brokers who exploited the farmers.
“South Korea is the fifth largest consumer of coffee. We have started a journey to sell coffee directly and it will weed out middlemen” Mainya said.
Sunggyu, who inspected the Union’s coffee mill, said he was impressed with the process of seedlings to crushing of the beans, adding he was confident coffee farmers will get high profits.
“I am here to purchase your coffee and will market the Gusii coffee in Korea. I laud stakeholders for their support” Suggyu said at the Union.
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