Coffee Management Services to run Tatu City-linked farm

Coffee Management Services (CMS) has taken over the running of a 3,326-acre coffee farm owned by Tatu City owners, Rendeavour Group.

CMS, which is associated with global coffee roaster Dormans, has been tasked with helping improve farm management practices at the farm, formerly owned by Kofinaf before it was sold to Rendeavour.

The development presents Dormans with a nucleus plantation to supply coffee berries to its soon to be opened roasting-cum-packaging facility at Tatu Industrial City with a capacity to process up to 15,000 metric tonnes of coffee berries annually.

In a paid-for advertisement, Rendeavour said CMS was expected to reduce operational costs through negotiation for farm inputs, improve coffee production and quality and source for new markets for the cash crop, thereby helping Rendeavour earn good returns on their investment.

“Kofinaf Company Ltd, which we wholly own will transfer management of its coffee estates, including milling and marketing operations to CMS effective February 1,” read part of the advertisement published in the Business Daily on Wednesday.

CMS has been in the coffee management business in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania since establishment in 2006, serving 300,000 farmers in the region.

READ: Tatu City buys 2,500 acres more as investors rush for prime plots

Dormans managing director Rozy Rana said construction of the plant was going on well with warehouses expected to be ready by May. The factory is initially expected to provide jobs for 200 people.

He said Dormans is currently working with co-operative societies giving it access to 20 per cent of coffee produced in Kenya.

Rendeavour country head Nick Langford allayed fears of continued disruption of coffee production in the country, saying clearing of coffee bushes to create room for Tatu City development had affected a negligible percentage.