Fairtrade update from Kenya

The following is a Business Development Update by Rachel Ngondo, Regional Development Executive, Africa

Once again it’s the end of another end of the week and today I had the pleasure of hosting one of our board members, Carol Wills who had visited the office and had meetings with other members of the Fair trade house. Carol was visiting Tanzania on a different project and it was an opportunity for me to learn about the groups she was visiting and for her to learn about some of the projects we are working with. Something she told me that I did not know is that she lived in Kenya when she was a little girl!

After the EAFCA conference, I have had the opportunity to meet with some of the people again! Last week I met with the Janet, the manager for Gahaya Links, which is a handicraft organisation in Rwanda that works with people affected by HIV. Janet was in Nairobi to receive an award for her organisations contribution towards rural poverty in Rwanda. She visited our office to understand more about SI lending and also to start the IFAT registration process. Janet told me that she wants to work with us because we are fair trade, the principles of which aspires to achieve for her organisation. I am looking forward to start working with her.

For a number of years coffee in Kenya has been sold though the auction system until in the last 2 years, when it was liberalized to allow farmers to sell directly to buyers. Despite liberalization farmers are still not yet able to sell their coffee directly to buyers, one of the reasons is their lack of capacity and understanding of the market but there is another more difficult problem, which involves ‘A curtail’ which wants to make sure farmers sell their coffee through marketing agents! Despite the high prices achieved at the auction house, farmers have remained poor, getting only 5% of the cup value. It is with this in mind that Kenya Coffee Growers Association (KCGA) was formed to champion the farmers issues and lobby on their behalf. KCGA is similar to a workers union in its function and works with coffee farmers throughout the country. I had a meeting with them in order for them to understand how we work with producers. One of the things they want to teach their members is how to access credit and they specifically find our lending model very appealing to them. I look forward to a strong relationship with them.