KCCE ‘Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters’, a cooperative founded in 2009 and supported by the governmentto respond to the needs of Kenyan coffee farmers to have more control over the marketing of their own production in order to obtain higher net yields and to improve the quality of their coffee. addressing various challenges faced by the coffee sector related to coffee production, quality, marketing and added value. Together with KCCE we have added coffees from nine washing stations that are located in the Nyeri region, these washing stations (known locally as ‘factories’) are organized within Cooperatives that are members of KCCE. In two factories we have developed our natural experiments with anaerobic fermentation and ‘sleeping bag’ drying technique repeating the process we had previously done in Murang’a and Kiambu, This is the first year in which we have carried out experimental processes in Cooperatives in Kenya, until now we had only carried them out in small farms. The result of this work are stable and very clean lots, and the producers are very encouraged, since this type of coffees create a new market niche for them.

The Ndurutu Washing station is located in the Nyeri coffee region. It began operating in 1999 and since then has established itself as a reference point for the Producers in the area, who deliver their cherries there for processing. Today there are more than 527 coffee growers who take the production from their farms, located at an altitude of more than 1,700 meters above sea level. The main varieties grown on these Farms are SL 28, Batian, Ruiru 11 and SL 24, which grow on clay-textured soils.

Once the lots are processed and ready for threshing, they are transferred to the Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society’s dry mill, where the final stages are completed before preparation for export.