Kenya: Machines for New Coffee Mill Received

The Nation (Nairobi)

January 10, 2007

Posted to the web January 9, 2007

Nation Correspondent

Nairobi

Machines worth more than Sh30 million for the ambitious Mathira Farmer's Coffee milling project in Nyeri district arrived at the weekend.

Yesterday, engineers were busy assembling the machines at the site in preparation for inauguration of the plant in three weeks time.

A Nairobi businessman Mr Peter Kuguru who is the patron of the project said ,"Farmers will maximize on their returns because apart from benefiting as shareholders of the firm the cost of milling, transportation and marketing will be drastically reduced."

He said the project is expected to inject more than Sh200 million annually to the local economy which would help improve their livelihoods.

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Mr Kuguru said all the coffee milled through the new plant will be marketed through a recently patented "Mount Kenya coffee" brand.

Funding for the coffee plant which is wholly owned by more than 36,000 farmers in Mathira division has been sourced from a local based firm C. Dormans a representative of America based Starbucks coffee.

They have pledged to buy most of the produce from the plant.