For 2008, Mars Drinks has decided to extend the Ndumberi project to add another Co-op, in line with its Brighter Tomorrow programme. As such Kandara Farmers Co-op as been included in the project. Kandara farmers were among the first Africans in Kenya to plant coffee in the early 1950s and currently hold a membership of 9,352 farmers. With rich deep loam soils, the Co-op has the potential to produce quality coffee.
However, coffee production in the Co-op, just like anywhere else in Kenya, has gone through rough times. Therefore, Mars Drinks plan to launch a revitalisation and modernisation project to make the Co-op competitive again. Activities would include re-conditioning current equipment and constructing new facilities.
With such renovation, the Co-op will not only be able to drastically improve coffee quality, but will also be able to handle larger amount coffee cherries.
In 2007, we launched the Riabai Clinic initiative in Ndumberi. The objective of this project is to provide basic, yet sustainable, healthcare programme for the farm holders and the local community at the Riabai Wet Mills. This includes:
- Building the clinic
- Helping equip the clinic with basic drugs, clinical and laboratory facilities
- Putting in place a competent and efficient management system to run the clinic, who report to local co-operative structure
With the project launch, Ndumberi has made history as the first Co-op to provide health care for its members and the local community. In addition, the clinic provided free HIV testing and counselling work sessions. Over 60 patients were treated on the day of launch itself on October 27, 2007.
In 2006, Mars Drinks had a vision of creating a sustainable quality coffee supply chain in Africa and as such, the Ndumberi Coffee Improvement Project was kicked-off. During our visit to the co-op facilities, we realised an immediate need for improvement in the farming equipment since it had not been upgraded since the 1960s. We sponsored renovation and expansion works to modernise the outdated co-op facilities, which has dramatically improved the quality of the crop and increased production yield. This, in turn, has led to higher income for the farmers. The main activities of the project included:
- Rehabilitation of wet mills, soaking tables and washing tables
- Construction of permanent drying tables
In addition, Mars Drinks helped the Ndumberi Co-op get UTZ Certified. The certification is an international recognition for professional coffee growers, and provides a verification of socially and environmentally competent coffee practice. This has added credibility for and long-term prospects for the co-op coffee output, enabling it to become competitive in the global coffee market.
