The Ritho Farmers’ Cooperative Society is situated on a steep hillside overlooking the Thiririku River in the town of Gatundu. This lot is from Handege, one of the society’s two washing stations or ‘coffee factories.’ Ritho has been in operation since 1995 and is run by CEO Lucy Maina along with a board of 9 farmer members, each representing a growing region that delivers to the factory. The average smallholder farmer in the region has about 200 coffee trees and will deliver between 20-50 kg of cherry on a given day. Farmers arrive at Handege throughout the afternoon and sort their cherries before delivering the ripe cherries to the cherry clerk who receives/weighs all deliveries. The coffees are processed that same evening, fermented overnight and then put out on raised beds for drying. Metropolis was fortunate to visit Handege in January 2020 and experience their operation firsthand.
