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Kenyan — Gathima Wet Mill 'AA'

The Gathima wet mill is one of 12 wet mills affiliated to the Iyego Farmers’ Cooperative Society in the Murang’a district, Kenya. Registered as a coffee society in 1959, during the pre-independence era in Kenya, the Iyego FCS started with a membership of 407 and one wet mill. The current membership stands at 10,000. There are 651,991 coffee trees in Iyego with 566,930 SL varieties and 85,061 Ruiru 11 trees. Their highest production yield was 12 million kg of cherry in 1998. Last year, they produced 2.3 million kg of cherry and anticipate producing 2 million kg during the current year.

Constructed in 1979, the Gathima wet mill started with 101 farmers. Today they have a total membership of 431, and 74,518 coffee trees, of which about 10% are Ruiru 11, and the rest are SL varieties. Their highest production ever was 489,000kg in 1998 and the lowest ever recorded was 140,000kg cherry in 2001. Last year, Gathima produced 248,000kg cherry and the anticipated production for the current year is 220,000kg cherry. The current average production per tree is estimated at 3 kg of cherry and the farmers average around 200 trees each. The wet mill has the potential to produce 700,000kg cherry per year (100metric tones).

Gathima is located on the windward side of the Abadare ranges in the Kangema division of the Murang’a district. Gathima member farms spread across two agro-ecological zones lying between 1550-1800m above sea level, in the coffee / tea zone (UM1) and the main coffee zone (UM2). Most are situated within the UM2. These ecological zones exhibit the typical agro-ecological profile of the windward side of the Abadare ranges, with a gentle cold and wet climate due to the effect of the Abadare forest. The area receives bimodal rainfall with long rains from March to July, and short rains from October to December. With an annual average rainfall of 1900mm, the area has well drained, deep volcanic soils, and dark reddish brown clay (Nitosols.) Average daily temperatures usually range between 15?C – 21?C. The Mathioya River winds through the vast green forests providing sufficient clean water for coffee processing at the wet mill.

The wet mill produces more of late (main) than the early (fly) crop. Flowering for the late crop is between March and May. The early crop in Gathima is usually about 15% of the late crop. The main crop is picked and processed from October to December. Members usually deliver their produce to the wet mill for pulping and drying, and transportation to the dry mill usually occurs from December to early February.