By Joseph Mukubwa
Othaya Coffee Farmers Co-operative
Society Ltd has procured
and installed a new advanced
polisher and bucket elevator for milling
coffee worth Sh8 million.
The Society Chairman, James
Nderitu said the machine is able to mill
2000 kgs of parchment coffee per hour
compared to the previous one which
could do only 700 kilos.
He announced that the society and
the project partners had agreed to share
the cost on a 50 per cent ratio. The society
had a couple of years ago constructed
a coffee mill through a loan of Sh8
million and Sh7 million from members
shares.
“We have acquired a commercial
milling license and it’s for this reason
that our mill requires some improvement
and expansion to cater for coffee
from the county and other areas,”
Nderitu noted during this year’s Annual
General Meeting (AGM) held at
the society’s coffee mill near Othaya
town.
The society has already acquired a
computerized commercial roaster and
a grader all valued at Sh5.3 million.
The roaster has a capacity to roast 70
kgs per hour while the grader is able to
do all types of grades.
Other value addition machines also
acquired include manual horizon hand
sealer, manual bar-coding and laboratory
hand sealer.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, while
on tour of the area last year recognized
the society’s efforts in value addition
and pledged to donate two machines
which include colour sorter and automated
packaging machine.
Nderitu said the machines would
go a long way in ensuring complete
value addition without any wastage,
adding: “The complete chain will improve
coffee payments. We will be able
to sell our coffee to supermarkets and
other destinations.”
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