Kenya’s Mount Elgon Coffee Producers to Get New Processing Plant

Evening view from the slopes of Mount Elgon. Creative Commons photo.

Coffee farmers along the slopes Kenya’s Mount Elgon should soon get a boost, as the World Bank has awarded constituents there a Sh5 million (approximately $60,000 USD) grant to build a coffee processing plant.

Mount Elgon, an active volcano occupying some 35,000 square acres in the eastern part of the country, traditionally has provided ideal growing conditions for a range of arabica varietals, but effects of climate change and violence from tribal rivalries reportedly hampered production there in recent years.

The new factory will specifically be in the Kapsokwony region, while plans for a future plant in Mount Elgon’s Kaptama region are also in development, according to Rogers Ngeywa, coordinator of Mount Elgon’s Kapsokisio Cooperative, which will benefit from the new plant. Check out Tim Wendelboe’s account of his trip to the cooperative early last year.