Coffee Drying Beds for small holders in Kenya

They jointly own the facilities used for the first stages of coffee processing, which involves gathering all the produce together, processing it and then selling it on. These farmers face many challenges, among them old processing technology and constrained infrastructure. In addition, some of the farmers also lack knowledge on critical issues such as climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

Through our exporter, Dormans, we source coffee from three cooperatives in Kenya: Mutira, Mwirua, and Ndumberi. Smallholders who are members of these cooperatives take their cherry to the central wet mills at the cooperatives; once there, the coffee is pulped, washed, and dried, a process that takes several days. The farmers then subcontract a secondary processing facility to remove the husks and appoint a broker who markets their coffee and gets it to Dormans. The money flows back to the farmers. 

Most of the coffee we source from Kenya is ​“washed” or wet-processed. This means once coffee cherries are harvested, the skin and most of the fruit around the bean are removed, and the coffee is placed in tanks to ferment naturally. Once it is fully fermented, the coffee is washed and dried on drying beds in the sun. Raised beds keep the cherries off the ground, allowing more air to circulate the coffee — helping it to dry evenly. However, most of the farmers in Kenya use wooden drying tables, and several challenges arise from using them.

Historically, at Mutira, Mwirua, and Ndumberi, just like many other co-operatives in Kenya, wooden drying beds have been used as part of the processing. However, as the wet coffee is placed onto the wooden drying beds and is then exposed to sunlight for quite a while, the timber wears out very fast, the wooden stands become weak, and the drying beds begin to sag in the middle, causing the coffee to dry unevenly and affecting the quality. Therefore, they must be reconstructed or renovated after every coffee growing season, which can be quite a costly process. However, one simple change can make a big difference — switching the wooden drying beds for metal drying tables is much more cost-effective as they only require a small amount of maintenance, such as repainting.

Over the last five years, Taylors has helped Mutira, Mwirua and Ndumberi convert 164 wooden to metallic drying tables at their various wet mills. In 2023, we continued this support with another project, which aimed to construct 20 metallic drying beds, 10 at Mutira and 5 each at Mwirua and Ndumberi. Taylors is funding 10 of the drying beds, and the other 10 are funded by cooperatives. This will benefit approximately 16,500 smallholder farmers who deliver their cherries to the wet mills. 

We hope that adding these metallic coffee drying beds will reduce the cost of processing the coffee and create more disposable income for farmers. The coffee quality has improved over the last few years since the switch to metal beds started, and we look forward to seeing this continue. Additionally, the project will benefit the ecosystems, as there will be less demand for wood, protecting and conserving forests in the area.