Why all universities will soon have coffee houses

Kenyan Coffee is not the preferred drink in the country, yet it is widely sought across the world for its good taste.

Benson Apuoyo, the Coffee Directorate Manager in-charge of Market Research and Product Development at the Agriculture Food Authority, spoke to Francis Mureithi on what can be done to promote the culture of drinking coffee among citizens and how to improve the sector.

Consumption of coffee is still at its lowest domestically. Why are Kenyans not good coffee drinkers?

There is this mentality that the coffee they buy and drink is of low quality and the best is exported.

This is a long-standing myth among Kenyans that we want to dispel. Others believe that coffee has some side effects in as afar as health is concerned.

In some communities, women are not supposed to drink coffee on fears that they will develop complications.

Medical research has shown that coffee drinking is good for our health and reduces chances of getting Type 2 diabetes while caffeine has the effect of fighting cells that cause the multiplication of cancerous cells in the body.

Can this trend be reversed?

Yes, we have launched an aggressive campaign dubbed “Drink Kenyan coffee, feel great” to promote consumption.

We are working closely with universities to increase domestic coffee consumption and we are targeting the student population to drive volumes as they are slowly emerging as heavy drinkers of coffee.

Currently, we are working with the United States International University– Africa, which has completed construction of its coffee house.

Others such as Multi-Media, Egerton, Dedan Kimathi, Jomo Kenyata, Kenyatta and Moi universities are in the process of building coffee houses.

If coffee is embraced, then we will see a lower uptake of alcoholic drinks among students.

What are you doing to market Kenyan coffee abroad?

Recently, we came up with the coffee Kenya mark to help in market research and product development. The mark gives the person who packages that coffee a traceability mechanism of processing and packaging.

Most local and international consumers have been cheated and it is now time to restore confidence.

So far 12 industry players were licensed to use the coffee Kenya mark of origin and they are enjoying increased sales volumes.

Our aim is to specialise on the niche market of specialty coffee. We are closely working with Specialty Coffee Associations of America, Europe and Japan.

These markets prefer high quality coffee for their consumers. Kenya luckily has enough types of high coffee, which include grades AA, AB, E and PB.

We are also collaborating with universities to give us ideas on how best to position Kenya in the international markets.

The Specialty Coffee Association of America has agreed to visit Kenya coffee growers from November 26 up to December 3.

Coffee theft has become rampant making farmers lose millions of shillings. How can the menace be stopped?

We are working with other security agencies to stop the theft. A thief would not come from Nairobi to go and steal coffee in Kieni or any other place.

Most of these thefts are inside jobs. We are urging farmers to embrace Nyumba Kumi initiative and be their brothers’ keeper.

The task report commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta will address this issue once it is implemented.

The directorate will handle a bit of it as it will know who owns coffee and at what point. People stealing coffee know it belongs to farmers and not the cooperative society.

If the society officials had bought it and owned it, they would not allow theft. The buyers of stolen coffee should interrogate its source because blind buying at night is tantamount to contributing to the theft.

Farmers in other parts of the country, especially in the sugar belt, are now embracing coffee after frustrations growing cane? Is this a good move?

Coffee is now grown in about 21 counties but it was initially planted in Central Kenya only.

The market is there as we are not suffering glut and farmers need to look after their crops and do proper marketing and we will do well as a country.