Coffee Day #3

On Monday July 12, Elliot, Ngomi, and I met Annabel Legg who, along
with her father, runs both a coffee estate and manages a set of mills
that collect from hogh-altitude smallholders in northern Tanzania.
Monica and the kids hung around the lodge in the morning and then took
Leon and Aideen up on their offer of lunch and an afternoon at their
house.

Central Coffee Pulperies of Kilimanjaro (CCPK) operates 5 pulperies,
buying coffee cherry from smallholders in 6 different locations on
Mount Kilimanjaro and nearby Mount Meru. Each mill has established
collection stations where a CCPK agent buys only high-quality cherry
at a set price.

The first mill we visited, the Olturoto Pulpery, was at the site of a
financially defunct coop on the southern slopes on Mt. Meru. CCPK
leases the mill from the coop and most of the contributing farmers are
coop members. We met two of Annabel's managers, who explained to us
how they time the fermentation by feel. We saw the pulping process in
operation and observed several women hand-sorting on the drying
tables. The mill is clearly well-run.

Next we visited a smallhoder near the mill. He was one of the larger
contributing farmers with nearly 800 very healthy, well-pruned coffee
trees interspersed with banana trees on his two acres. He had planted
the trees himself in 1967, and it was impressive to see the size of
the stumps from which the 3-year-old heads were growing.

We next traveled an hour up the slopes of Kilimanjaro where we had a
tour of the estate mill and a nice lunch. Afterward, we traveled
another hour or so up the mountain on some of the worst roads I have
ever seen, only to come around a bend into a bustling little town with
hundreds of people engaged in market day. A little further on the
"road" and we arrived at the small Boloti Pulpery at about 1,500
meters altitude. This project uses a Panagos mill, which requires much
less water because it removes all of the fruit, eliminating the need
for fermentation.

We next visited the collection agent for the Boloti Mill at his home,
where the collection occurs. While we were there a woman brought in a
small plastic bag containing her harvest. After she was asked to sort
out some of the green cherry, her crop amounted to about 3 Kg.

The average smallhold farmer in this area has about 20 trees. Many
trees produce as little as one or two kilograms per year, although
their potential is about 6 Kg, which would yield just over 1 pound of
exportable coffee. Using this math, the average contributor to the
CCPK is responsible for around 10 pounds of green.

I was very impressed with the CCPK projects. I believe that by
collecting coffee from the higher slopes of Kili and Meru and applying
good sorting and milling practices, these projects will produce some
nice coffees. I was also pleased with the detailed records of payments
to farmers and was encouraged by Annabel's plans to educate and
provide good plant material to the local smallholders. It seems to me
that good coffee from the slopes of Kilimanjaro would be very
marketable in the U.S. and might help break Tanzania away from an
almost exclusive association with peaberries.