Kenya Cooperative Coffee Exporters Limited (KCCE)
Kenya Co-operative Coffee Exporters Limited (KCCE) was founded in 2009, as a Co-operative Society under the Co-operative Societies Act of 2004 and licensed as a Coffee Marketing Agent by Coffee Board of Kenya (current Coffee Directorate). KCCE has two subsidiaries: Kenya Co-operative Coffee Millers (KCCM) and Kenya Co-operative Coffee Dealers (KCCD).
KCCE intervenes to address the dire need for Kenyan coffee farmers to have more control over marketing of their produce to realize higher net returns. The challenges the coffee sector faces are: product quality, marketing and value addition of coffee. KCCM help the famers to trace their produce through the dry milling process. This enables the farmers to reduce losses of their produce, create transparency in grading, and cut out exploitative trade practices that affect their income. KCCD added valueby packaging Kenyan Arabica coffee for both the local and export markets.
KCCE is currently working with over 35,000 farmers (95% smallholder) from 7 coffee growing counties in Kenya. Besides aggregation, milling and marketing of coffee, KCCE offers non-marketing services which include extension support services and linkages to finance. Through KCCE established partners who mainly employ BoP and increase income opportunities for the low income segment. KCCD currently sells its products through low-income distributors/retailers. KCCE helps to make price fixing more transparent which supports increasing cherry prices. The company introduced various innovations by sourcing of premium customers, promoting good agricultural practices, efficient logistics and warehousing, and branding of coffee.
The company is among the few actors that are addressing the challenges of the smallholder farmer from production through to marketing.