Stirring interest in Kenyan coffee

All that Mugo Kanyue needed to see his seven children through school were 500 coffee plants. A peasant farmer in Embu, the plant occupied a prominent place in his heart. But little did he know that one of his daughters would live on coffee, literally .

As if paying homage to the crop, third-born child Loise Wanjira (now Njeru) continued to live off coffee. She worked at coffee related establishments after graduating from the University of Nairobi in 1981.

Three years ago, amid cut-throat intrigues synonymous with the coffee industry, Loise rose through the ranks to become the chief executive officer of the Coffee Board of Kenya.

“It’s true several stakeholders thought the coffee industry was too murky for me to handle. But I proved to them that what was needed was somebody who could take coffee to the next level, policy wise,” she says.

When former Agriculture Minister Kipruto Kirwa gazetted her name as head of the board in 2007, Loise rolled up her sleeves, stretched her feet and vowed to make a difference.

She knew that if she didn’t leave a mark in coffee management, it would not be for lack of a political will.

The board regulates the industry and licences various stakeholders.

With the marketing of coffee being privatised, the board has recently been keen on promotion and value addition.

When Loise leaves the coffee scene, one of her achievements will be the launch of the Kenyan coffee brand, the first initiative to distinctively package the local variety (Arabica) as unique, tasty and authentic.

Loise was at the centre of the brand launch a fortnight ago.

The move, say industry players, has opened a promotional blitz at the international market that will see prices of Kenyan coffee shoot up.

“We shall be selling a special and unique product, and the prices will definitely be better,” she says.

Next Tuesday, Loise and her board will hit the ground in Mombasa with the new brand when they host the East African Fine Coffee Association.

The association is made up of 10 countries and gives both producers and consumers a platform to showcase products and exchange ideas.

Already, some farmers have been licensed to sell their coffee directly to buyers abroad. This has lowered the overheads accruing from middlemen.

Kenya produces about 50,000 tonnes of coffee annually. According to official data, more than 95 per cent of this is exported. Kenya’s coffee is regarded highly in the world, and competes only with that from the highest producers — Columbia and Costa Rica — on volumes.

“We want to correct a situation where we have a top quality product and yet our farmers are not reaping maximum benefits from it,” says Loise.

Speaking to the mother of three, the corporate demeanour she exhibits could easily blind one to her strengths, as if to confirm the fears that she would be ill at ease in coffee wars.

But her long-standing interaction with coffee matters (and farmers) at various levels has made her one of the most respected authorities in the industry.

“I have been at the grassroots, in research and marketing. I believe I have an insight into management of this crop,” she says. Suddenly, she excuses herself to make an internal call.

A few minutes later, we learn that she has just asked the “coffee girl” (there is no “tea girl” at the board’s head office at Kahawa House) to make us coffee. Its sweet and fresh aroma wafts in the air as we chat.

Loise’s first brush with corporate coffee was 29 years ago. She was at the time employed as a credit extension officer by the Ministry of Co-operative Development. Within a year, she had risen to district co-operative officer.

After working in the civil service for six years, Loise decided to extend her knowledge and moved to Reading University in the United Kingdom for a masters in science degree (management and organisation).

A year later she was back. She was immediately posted to the Ministry of Agriculture and seconded to extension management, a task she undertook for two years.

In 1990, she sought greener pastures and moved to the Coffee Research Foundation. She was made head of coffee research, liaison and advisory. Here, she was in direct contact with farmers.

She was very patient. She worked at the research firm for over 16 years, only moving out after she clinched her current post.

Has she ever been exposed to life threatening situations at work? “Several times,” she replies.

We listen keenly as she narrates some of them.

The worst was in Othaya, around year 2000, when farmers at the giant Othaya Coffee Co-operative Society accused the management of buying counterfeit chemicals.

“A chemical was presented to us but we decided to get more from the farmers. Our analysis showed what the farmers had was genuine but what we had been brought had been adulterated,” she says.

She and the then director of research, a Mr Michori, took the results to the farmers.

Little did they know that their action would ignite a violent reaction.

“We were almost lynched. The farmers wanted us to state that the chemicals were fake so that they could take their wars to the next level. Police officers whisked us away just in time,” she remembers.

In 1997, she and a team of coffee experts went to West Pokot for a field day, only for gunfire to throw their mission into panic and confusion.

“We were just a few hundred metres from where cattle rustlers were exchanging fire. It was very scaring,” she says.

But Central province is the one place where local politics has ruined management of the crop. In reference to the infamous coffee wars of Nyeri in the late 1990s, Loise says liberalisation of the industry found farmers unprepared for change.

For instance, farmers were used to selling their coffee to the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union. When Thika Coffee Mills came up, a vicious competition riddled with incitement and mudslinging ensued, she recalls.

How does the CEO like her coffee?

“Black,” she says, “without sugar.” She says she comfortably asks for githeri (maize and beans) when she wants “a good meal”.

Often, she spends her leisure time at the gymnasium. This explains her athletic but petite frame.

bmuiruri@nation.co.ke