MCCMCU is the only farmer-led and famer-owned Coffee Miller’s Co-operative Union in Kenya that has both milling and marketing licence, hence, it is able to participate in the National Coffee Auction (NCE) and sell coffee directly to international buyers. This guarantees fair prices for our farmers. MCCMCU works with several International buyers from, amongst others: Europe, The United States of America and South-Korea.
Our Services
We are dedicated to sourcing the finest coffee from our producers and providing them with necessary support towards optimal production of quality coffee.
MCMCU Specialist in -
i) Coffee Milling
ii) Coffee Marketing
iii) Farmers Training and Extensions
iv) Provision of Crop Advances
v) Provision of Farm Input
i) Coffee Milling
Milling Process
Our coffee is milled using mechanised state of the art machinery to make sure that the beans with serve to our customers are of high quality and retain that distinct taste that makes the coffee from Meru Mountain region stand out the globally. Our coffee milling process is made up of three major stages namely: Hulling, Polishing and finally Grading.
Hulling
In this stage the outer skin known as husk is completely removed. The clean coffee beans are then removed from the cleaner to the polisher via bucket elevators and pipes mechanism.
Polishing
In the polisher the aim is to remove silver skin from the beans. The beans at this stage must be thoroughly cleaned even if the process has to be repeated many times until the shift supervisor is satisfied. The polisher operator monitors and adjusts feed rate and slide weight accordingly and also verifies husk disposal. The coffee is then moved from the huller to the grader using bucket elevators.
Grading
Here coffee is passed through different screens for grading by size. Each grade attained is conveyed by elevator to a storage tank where it will be fed to the density table through a bucket elevator and conveyor belts. Finally the the coffee is delivered to the density table where it is graded then conveyed to the weighing buffer bins.
ii) Coffee Marketing
Marketing Systems
We are the only milling and marketing coffee milling co-operation in Kenya that is fully represented and owned by small scale coffee producers. Because of this we are able to sell our coffee in two main coffee marketing systems in Kenya:
a) Central Coffee Auction System
b) Direct Sales System or “Second Window”
Auction System
This is a time-tested auction system referred to as the Nairobi Coffee Exchange. This is where licensed coffee dealers buy coffee through a competitive bidding. The coffee exchange is under the management of the Kenya Coffee Producers and Traders Association.
Direct Sales
The Kenyan Government has recently approved rules that enable and govern the direct sales of Kenyan coffee to buyers abroad. This is an alternative to the previous “central auction” system, whereby all Kenyan coffee was only able to be bought and sold at the weekly central coffee auctions. This system has long faced criticism regarding unfair or colluding prices, as well as restraining the producers’ selling ability. The introduction of direct sales, also known as “the second window”, provides another marketing outlet to overseas buyers and will allow Kenyan coffee farmers to negotiate more profitable deals by removing the chain middlemen that ordinarily dominate the coffee auctions. Farmers will however have to sell their coffee through locally registered marketing agents, though these agents will only be licensed by the government after demonstrating correct knowledge and ability within the international coffee sector, as well as providing bank guarantees for their farmers. These rules are in place to prevent producers falling victim to the likes of conmen and other fraudsters.
iii) Farmers Training and Extensions
Training
As Part of MCMCU’s responsibility for ensuring high quality coffee that meets the global standards, advice to the farmers on good coffee husbandry is key to our operations. This component of working with farmers is handled by our training and extension department. Qualified extension staff work with the farmers throughout the year to ensure that we get the right quantity and quality of coffee that meets the demands of our customers.
iv) Provision of Crop Advances & Farm Input
Crop Advances
Coffee farming in our region has two seasons in a year the main crop and the fly crop. It is only during these two seasons that farmers are paid. However, throughout the year, farmers are busy in their farms attending to their coffee and as such incur some costs. Therefore, we together with other partners in the financial sector come in and support our farmers access the much-needed crop advance for various coffee farming purposes as they await to be paid for deliveries. This way we can ensure uninterrupted supply of coffee to our mill and more importantly enable our farmers to continue with their coffee production stress-free.
Farm Inputs
Coffee just like any other crop requires nutrients for it to produce sufficient quality crop. As farmers are paid only twice in a year, we step in to offer the necessary farm inputs on credit. Our aim is to ensure that farmers just focus on production of coffee and not procurement of inputs required. By procuring for all our farmers we often benefit from economies of scale whose benefits the farmers enjoy.
Why we are the real coffee experts?
1. Timely milling of coffee coupled with timely payments to the farmers guarantees freshness.
2. With the help of our dedicated team we train on how to improve the quality of coffee and increase production.
3. We closely monitor the coffee prices of our farmers and help them secure the optimal prices hence better returns and more investments in quality beans.
4. We offer prompt crop advances and farm input finances to our farmers.
5. We get pool of coffees from the oldest settled volcanic soils in the world favorable for Kenya Arabica Coffee.
6. We are located within the slopes of Mt. Kenya which is 17000 ft. above the sea level, therefore the coffee quality is high due to favorable climatic conditions.