Kiamugumo factory is situated in the community of Ngariama in the Nyangeni subregion of Kirinyaga County, on the slopes of Mount Kenya. In this area of Kenya, smallholders deliver coffee in cherry to washing stations. After harvesting, producers bring the ripe cherries to the factory in horses or motorcycles. The cherries are washed and depulped with water from the Kii River. After washing, the coffee is dried on typical African raised beds, which allow good air circulation between the beans. Beans are dried to between 11 and 13% moisture, then brought to the Central Kenya Coffee Mill in Karatina Nyeri county for grading and sorting.
Kiamugumo Coffee factory is run by a factory manager who oversees all activities within the factory. Together with other staff members they carry out duties such as weighing coffee, selection and grading of coffee, paying farmers and addressing farmers’ complaints. In line with the rising awareness on the need to conserve the environment, the factory has dug their wastewater soak pits away from the water source where the wastewater is allowed to soak in back to the soil. Additionally the society encourages its members to plant trees on their farms. Kiamugumo has long-term goals to increase coffee production, training seminars, and access to education and sustainable processes for the farmers they work with. They also maintain a demonstration plot that farmers can visit and reference in relation to their own plots.
