35% av målbeløp på kr 30 000
Iburu
Iburu is a place in my village named after the serenity associated with the green rolling hills and a lush valley where springs originate from beautifully erected caves. The term 'iburu' connotes beauty in the existence of both the physical space and cultural alignments it has attracted. It evokes childhood memories of a serene landscape, a place that hosted a massive diversity of habitats, and a place which shaped my way of looking at the world.
My village lies on the Eastern highlands of Mount Kenya, where a rare blend of cool climate and forest landscape supports farming some of the world's best Arabica coffee. Through coffee farming, which is one of the many cultural, as well as socio-economic activities, I have grown to understand what it means to farm and live in harmony with nature. However, in the recent past, the beauty I call home is gradually diminishing with severe consequences for both livelihoods and the ecosystem as most farmers convert their coffee farms due to low returns. This has inspired me to work closely with small-holder farmers to preserve their coffee farms; both for their livelihoods and to conserve these beloved and critical rural landscapes.
Covid-19 Impact on our Farmers
The unprecedented nature of Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 prompted Kenya, like many countries globally, to set movement restrictions in efforts to contain its spread. Beyond its severe impacts on public health around the world, the pandemic has considerably affected the agriculture sector, especially in Africa where it is the main livelihood source. In particular, the initial restriction of movements imposed by Kenya not only disrupted supply and value chains and access to markets by small producers but also coincided with the harvesting period of coffee in the region. This has affected the productivity and efficiency of the production process and ultimately the welfare of producers, consumers and other actors in the value chain. Our coffee farmers are thus severely affected, and for a second season in a row might not be able to deliver their accumulated coffee to the market. However, with your help we can ship all the coffee from the previous season to Norway and cut our losses. The support we get will also help us to continuously deliver our produce to consumers while securing a livelihood source for our smallholder farmers.
Our Story
I had just arrived in my village one afternoon in November 2016. As my dad and I were catching up, he received a phone message from the coffee co-operative notifying him of his pay-out for the previous season. We both looked to find only 4 dollars!
“I'll uproot the coffee in a month's time anyway. I do not see its value anymore. "He told me. My dad grew up in a coffee-producing community on the slopes of Mount Kenya, where the Arabica variety does well in the cooler Kenyan highlands, even made more productive by deep, rich and well drained volcanic soils. Coffee had been part and parcel of his life and a land use that defined our cultural identity, social structures, and family values.In this moment I had an epiphany, and my need to act to provide hope to farmers like my dad was born.
Many farmers, like my father, applied indigenous agroforestry farming practices when coffee production was introduced in my village in 1935. Farmers grew native tree species alongside their coffee crops, which offered habitat for many birds among other organisms. However, during the coffee economy crash in the 1980s, these shade trees were removed in hopes of increasing yields. As coffee prices worsened in the 1990s, many of the farmers uprooted their coffee trees, and more continue to do so, even today.
Iburu Coffee
Iburu offers small-holder coffee farmers an avenue to earn a consistent and reliable income through coffee production while contributing to climate action. We envision to be the partner of choice for smallholder coffee farmers in Mount Kenya and consumers around the world. Our mission is to empower smallholder coffee farmers by providing a transparent platform through which they earn reliable returns, while encouraging research-based farming techniques that guarantee high quality coffee and healthy ecosystems. Therefore, we provide direct market access for our farmers, which gives their high quality, shade-grown coffee access to worldwide consumers.
Our Solution
This solution is a community-centered and inspired model that attempts to confront, unpack, and work with the inherent complexities in the context of coffee farming in the Eastern highlands of Mt. Kenya. It does this from a very brave but humble perspective, by addressing the visible injustices while uncovering the untapped potential of small-scale coffee farmers in the face of climate change. The solution is unique in its integrative approach that addresses three key dimensions of coffee farming: social, economic, and ecological. Conventional coffee farming structure in Kenya places small scale farmers on the periphery and marginalizes their existence through an unjust and non-transparent supply chain; it also marginalizes their skills and traditional knowledge in sustainable farming.
You can read more about our project here and follow us on Facebook and Instagram .
Doreen Gakii Mugendi
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