By Bisola Adeyemo
European Union (EU) in collaboration with Slovak Aid and Central Management Services (CMS) donated thousands of coffee processing machines to Gakungu Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Embu County, Kenya.
While commissioning the machine, the CMS General Manager, Martin Ngari, said the machine have capacity to process five tons of coffee in an hour and have the ability to save processing costs for farmers due to its efficiency in terms of speed as well as low power and water consumption compared to the old disc-pulper that has the capacity of three, KNA said.
He further stated that the machine also ensures the quality of beans is not compromised as it uses press methods to separate the beans from the shell, unlike the old disc-pulper that uses the cut method that occasionally damages the beans.
“The machine is able to assist farmers cut labor cost by almost a third of the previous cost thus ultimately maximizing farmers’ returns owing to its efficiency,” the GM said.
“The machine ensures that 90 per cent of all pulped coffee is of good grade at the primary level,” he said, noting that the modernization project was currently running in four coffee growing counties of the Central Region including Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, and Embu.
Ngari, therefore, urged farmers to become interested in the pursuit of coffee farming as a business and also boost production through the adoption of modern farming techniques.
The Society Chairman, Joseph Njogu, appealed to farmers to make maximum use of the machine by increasing their produce noting that coffee prices had improved tremendously heralding a new dawn for the crop that was once regarded as the black gold.