For years, coffee farmers in Kenya have faced a myriad of challenges ranging from a struggle to access capital which is needed to improve their farms and buy farm inputs.
That struggle might soon be a thing of the past following the entry of Brinsley Group, a Kenyan company, focused on offering support to coffee farmers.
The company which was registered in 2020 has already hit the ground running with several initiatives targeting farmers in at least five coffee-growing areas.
Under the current initiative, Brinsley Group, working with several partners has been offering farmers with among others access to farm machinery and farm inputs.
Farmers access the services through cooperative societies which is the company’s targeted approach aimed at reviving the coffee farmers’ cooperative societies.
“We help cooperatives get fertilizers at a cheaper price which they then sell to farmers. As a company, we stand in as guarantors to those cooperatives so that they can get the farm inputs at a credit,” the company official told Uasin Gishu News.
Farmers are also able to access farm machinery on lease with an option for them to purchase them also available.
Which regions does the Brinsley Group operate in?
So far, Brinsley Group has engaged farmers in the Western Region (Mount Elgon), Trans Nzoia, Elgeyo Maralwet (Kerio Valley), Kericho in Kipkelion and Mount Kenya.
Part of the engagement includes sensitizing the farmers on the need and importance of engaging in coffee farming as well as empowering them economically which enables them to access farm inputs and machinery.
To date, Brinsley Group has engaged 53 Farmers Cooperative Societies (FCS) spread across the country.
The company also imports fertilizer which is used by farmers in Tanzania, through a partnership with Gold Agriculture company.
With the various initiatives being undertaken by the Brinsley Group, coffee farmers in the county have all the reasons to look forward to a brighter future.
Coffee farming remains a significant contributor to the economy, with about 70 per cent of the coffee produced by small farms that control around 75 per cent of the land under production.
