Young Kenyan coffee farmers are shunning cooperatives to start Coffee Collectives.

Each Kenyan coffee farmer who does crop production for profit requires a marketing channel and a unified system of production and a better value chain. Coffee Collective farmers who do production on their own and have good marketing channels are able to maximize the potential of their farms. However, in Kenya, these kinds of farmers are not many.

For the small scale coffee farmers, they have to rely on large cooperatives for marketing and sometimes processing facilities. Due to the complexity of the cooperatives, the original mission of easing the above-named services sometimes does not come to fruition, much to the dismay of the cooperative members.

Cooperatives are formed with the promise of easing the burden of processing, storage, and marketing of farmers’ green coffee beans. They are made up of many small-scale coffee farmers who pool together their resources to achieve these objectives. When well run and managed, cooperatives can be a farmer’s best friend. But on the other hand, if not well managed, they may prove to be a thorn on the farmers’ side.

In many of the producing countries including Kenya, many farmers have grown disillusioned with the cooperative system and are leaving altogether to do individual production and marketing. This is difficult and the need to pool resources grows ever more urgent. This is giving birth to various forms of farmer cooperation and unified production and marketing systems.

One of these farmers’ cooperation is by forming farmer’s collectives which is a group of producers who band together to ease the marketing and trading of their green coffee beans. The goal of these farmers’ systems is to ease post-harvest activities so the farmers may concentrate more on the coffee farm and produce high-quality coffee rather than worrying about markets and processing.

What are collectives?

A Coffee collective is a group of producers who band together to ease the marketing and trading of their green coffee beans. Each producer is licensed to own a large or medium-sized plantation and has proper licenses to allow for the processing of their green coffee beans.

Unlike in a cooperative society whereby all members do not have processing facilities, in collectives, each member has access to their own processing equipment.

For instance, in coffee collectives, each member has a pulping station at his farm. This means that a particular coffee producer has the ability to primarily process his coffee by pulping (removal of the red skin), fermentation tanks if they own a washing center, and even drying beds for drying his parchment.

The management of coffee collectives is easier because each farmer in the collective manages their farm and production cycles with the major decisions being made in meetings by all the members. This provides some level of transparency and clarity, which eases the day-to-day running of the collective.

These collective members can decide how to process their coffee, whether individually or as a unit. Sometimes, the coffee will be bulked to be sold as one lot, or in some cases, it will be sold as micro-lots. All these are decisions made by the members.

As a registered entity, it is easy to acquire funding for these collectives as create direct relationships with clients which greatly improves the quality and quantity of the coffee they produce. This is because the contracts they sign dictate that certain qualities and quantities have to be achieved.

The collectives have easy access to qualified personnel in the industry who advise on the best agricultural, processing, and marketing practices. There are fewer politics that harm the collective and intensive research goes into making coffee of higher quality.

In some cases, there are instances where an individual owns a coffee collective. In this case, an individual with knowledge of coffee marketing and trading brings together a few farmers in a particular locality, arranges for processing, and later assists in marketing their coffee. Here, the owner of the collective retains most of the management decisions while the farmers have autonomy over their individual farms.

In this example, the owner of the collective may advance some funds to assist the farmers to complete the farm activities such as the purchase of chemicals, fertilizers, labor required, and cherry delivery. The owner of this collective also arranges for the processing of the farmer’s green coffee and provides skilled labor.

How can collectives benefit young  Coffee farmers?

The major challenge facing Young Kenyan coffee farmers is the lack of capital required to start and run a coffee farm. Owning land is another challenge and inheritance usually remains the only alternative to having a piece of land to do some coffee cultivation.

Land leasing is an attractive proposition that allows young coffee farmers to do comfortable cultivation. The young farmers don’t trust the cooperatives, and there are  huge marketing costs involved in individual production, the alternative is a collective

A good example of a coffee collective is Slopes 8 Coffee in Kirinyaga county, Central Kenya. This is one of the most productive regions in the country producing top-quality coffee that is sought after worldwide. The collective is made up of eight young producers located on the slopes of Mt. Kenya.

Each of the 8 members owns a farming parcel of land. In each of the farms, they retain autonomy over the production system and cycle. After harvesting, they decide on the best form of processing. For instance, the washed process is usually the go-to choice for most Kenyan producers.

After processing the coffee and drying it, the collective decides on a miller who does the coffee milling for that season and later decides on the best avenues for selling the milled coffee. The advantage is that they remain in total control of their coffee until it is sold.

Traceability: Traceability is a huge plus for this form of production system. It is easy to trace a coffee lot sold by the collective back to the farm it came from. This means that all relevant aspects of the coffee will be understood. The region, variety, processing, warehouse, and storage will all be easily known. With the coffee being fully traceable, it will also add more value to the coffee thereby increasing the collective income.

Greater access to market: For young farmers with no access to good markets, having a registered collective puts them in a competitive position to maximize their farms’ productivity. The collective mills their coffee and can list it on trading platforms where a horde of coffee buyers are present and looking for those particular kinds of coffee.

The opportunity for direct trade: The collectives have very great chances of creating direct relationships with coffee buyers, for instance. The buyers are always on the lookout for coffees with great stories that accompany them. On a trading platform like AGnimble, the collective can tell their story and easily form ethical relationships with buyers.

Access to more capital: It is easy for young farmers to get funding once they are in collectives that strive to make a difference. As a registered entity, the collective can apply for government grants and funds to improve its operations and increase production while having access to better markets and machinery.

They can scale their business: With increased earnings, the collectives can invest in buying their own farms instead of leasing. This would make young farmers self-dependent, reducing crime rates and unemployment while contributing significantly to increased security in the producing areas.

Access more government resources: Business registration of any of these collectives is usually not complicated and collectives are even smiled upon by the authorities in Kenya. These young farmers that have their collectives registered can then have access to several resources such as access to agricultural inputs, access to subsidized fertilizers/sprays and advisory services on productivity, and reduction of costs of production by agricultural officers.

Another example of a well-performing coffee collective for young farmers is the Underit Coffee Farmers . It is located in the Rift Valley region in Kenya and is making waves in the coffee production industry. Underit coffee farmers have great ambitions to change the narrative around coffee production in the country and become leaders in this sector. They grow coffee, process it, and arrange for dry milling within the region. So far, the progress has been great and they hope to continue growing bigger with plans to invest in better processing facilities.

Currently, almost 90% of Kenyan coffee, for instance, is washed. With access to more markets and more clients, young farmers will be able to try experimental processing techniques such as natural anaerobic, and honey processing among others.

For these collectives, AGnimble enables digital transformation for them. With AGnimble, they can run their business in a single platform which greatly simplifies their business process and reduces the time required to complete transactions. Receiving quotes, receiving purchase orders, shipping samples, and signing contracts all on the same platform is so convenient that young farmers will spend more time and devote more attention to producing quality coffee rather than worrying about the markets and supply chain.