We got around to spend some time at coffee farms during the past weekend. Here we learned farmers were paid 0.7USD per kilo coffee.
So far we have managed to see, nobody has coffee from this area, but only from central parts of Kenya just north of Nairobi. That is the best Kenyan coffee is not available to the European market and most coffees are exported to Japan, USA and UK. This trade is characterized by middlemen who pay poor. The payment does not happen until after the coffee is resold which can be up to 6 months.
During the past months, we received 45-50 samples of green beans from individual farmers around Mt. Kenya and sent these to roasteries in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The intention was to establish a direct and open trade model between farmers and roasteries in Scandinavia and the farmers located at Mt. Kenya.
We need to develop the concept further and ensure that we can contribute to a sustainable growth in the local regions in Africa. In this way, the individual farmer can raise their standards of living and we can support UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
We’ll stand by and await the response from the roasteries we sent the coffee to.
