Embu: The County Government of Embu has committed Sh25 million for the construction of a modern parchment coffee warehouse with a capacity of 30,000 bags. The warehouse will be constructed at the Embu County Coffee Mill located in Kavutiri in Runyenjes Constituency, which serves as the central hub for coffee processing and marketing across the entire county.
According to Kenya News Agency, the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) in charge of Agriculture, John Nyaga, stated that the facility has been designed to enhance value addition and quality preservation. He mentioned that the investment will address the storage deficit at the mill by enabling it to handle all the volumes of coffee produced across the county, amounting to 2,500 tons per year. The Kavutiri Mill, equipped with machinery for milling, grading, roasting, blending, and packaging, will benefit from the warehouse by being able to operate continuously without halting operations due to inadequate storage space for parchment coffee.
Nyaga noted that previously, the mill could only process what it had space to store, thus operating at a minimum level. The warehouse will also help eliminate coffee theft at factory stores by centralizing storage, ensuring adequate security. Nyaga urged coffee societies to move dried parchment to the central hub immediately for better safety compared to scattered factory stores. He further added that bulk storage will allow management to hold onto the commodity until market conditions are favorable, avoiding the need to sell into a saturated market due to storage limitations.
County Chief Officer in charge of Agriculture Njeru Mwita encouraged farmers to increase production, emphasizing that the upcoming warehouse will provide ample capacity to mill, grade, and store all locally harvested coffee. Mill Chair Wilfensio Njeru highlighted that the current storage capacity of 2,000 bags posed challenges during peak harvesting seasons. With the new development, the mill will be able to accommodate all coffee produced across the county without turning away deliveries.
