Responsible farming and consumption

Taste of Kenya provides an innovative field to fork solution that supports responsible farming, production, supply and consumption of coffee by:

1-Sourcing coffee directly from coffee farmers offering them higher margins and a reduced payment cycle helping in poverty alleviation and stimulating them to improve their crop production.

2-Specialty roasting and packaging in Kenya by supplying affordable freshly roasted coffee increasing the domestic consumption of coffee. 

3-Sustainable impact for the youth in Kenya through job opportunities in selling affordable and accessible coffee. 

This solution is scalable and replicable in Africa, Asia and Middle East and other countries experiencing large population growth to curb economic youth migration. 

The major problem facing the coffee industry in Kenya is the severe inequality in the coffee supply chain that has resulted in low coffee production and over tillage of land.

Coffee farming is no longer viewed as a viable livelihood by Kenyan farmers due to lack of economic incentives. Kenya's coffee production has fallen by over 61 per cent in the last 25 years as farmers are cutting down their coffee trees due to low margins of around 5% received from coffee sales. 

Additionally the is overworked, environmentally degraded coffee farmland as farmers are left with no choice but to cut down their coffee trees and grow faster yielding crops such as maize and bananas however this causes irreversible impact to the land. Coffee trees take 4 years to yield produce and they reach their full potential after 8 years keeping carbon dioxide locked in soil as the ground surface remains unturned. Cutting down the coffee trees reverses the soil carbon cycle, where instead of absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, tilled soil becomes a net emitter of co2 caused by the repetitive tilling of the farm and draining soil nutrition. 

Our project will improve coffee production yields while increasing the health and productivity of the soil and reducing atmospheric Co2 through carbon capture and increased in-country consumption of coffee as follows:

Carbon capture to improve coffee production yields from 3 kilos of production per tree to 10 kilos per tree. This is possible by implementing carbon farming practices such as cover cropping, tree replanting, fewer chemicals and fertilizers, livestock grazing and shade growing to restore soil health and improve yields. This will increase the total count of trees and provide a regenerative opportunity for agricultural soil to capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Reduced carbon footprint through increased local consumption of coffee. Shipping currently accounts for nearly 3% of global co2 emissions and could be responsible for 17% of global co2 emissions by 2050. Kenyan coffee is exported to North America and Europe by ship generating 15gram co2 per km. In the previous harvest Kenya exported 20% of coffee (9,600,000 kg) to North America covering over 24,400 nautical km generating 3,513,600 carbon emissions. We will reduce the carbon emissions generated by sea freight by increasing the local consumption of coffee domestically in Kenya. 

Over 700,000 small-scale Kenyan coffee farmers sell their coffee through 5 levels of middlemen and experience low margins and delays in getting paid. Direct trade is available however most farmers don’t have the necessary capital investment, logistical capabilities and licensing requirements to trade directly hence they are left at the mercy of the supply chain middlemen.

We are the first company in Kenya to offer a solution that will encourage farmers to explore the direct trade option to ensure they get better returns to improve their livelihoods and safeguard future Coffee production. We directly contribute towards the following Sustainable Development Goals: Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) by giving farmers 25% higher margins; Responsible Production and Consumption (SDG 12) by improving the yield of coffee and increasing the domestic consumption of coffee; Reducing gender equality (SDG 5) by working with 50% of female workforce and Climate Action (SDG 13) by carbon farming. The impact of which will be felt not only by the farmers and their families but also by the local community who depend on the farming labour to make a living. 

Taste of Kenya provides an innovative field to fork solution that supports responsible farming, production and consumption of coffee by improving coffee production yields while increasing the health of the soil and reducing atmospheric Co2 through carbon capture and increased in-country consumption of coffee.

We do this by improving coffee production yields through implementing carbon farming practices such as cover cropping, tree replanting, livestock This ensures the farmers provide a regenerative opportunity for agricultural soil to capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Direct trade

disposable coffee bags

tea