Back in September the Nandi county government introduced some new reforms with the goal of stopping coffee farmer exploitation.
The two most significant directives are ones that make it illegal for both cherry trading that falls outside of licensed cooperatives and estates, and the sale of coffee seedlings from nurseries that aren’t officially licensed. These measures will be enforced by County Coffee Inspectors working alongside the National Police Service and Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) officers.
While these reforms should help to stop farmers being ripped off by under-paying coffee traders and low quality nurseries, it does also add an extra bureaucratic hoop for Lot 20 to jump to continue their operations in Nandi County. The team are currently working to register a new cooperative that will satisfy the rulings of the local government, but until then, the harvest at the Nandi Hills washing station has slowed significantly.