Kibinge’s board and the in 2017 established youth council saw a low productivity of farmland after farmers passed the age of 45. This resulted in a decrease of coffee supply, which gave them a weak market position. Besides, they wanted to contribute to combatting youth unemployment.
With this is mind, Kibinge decided to create productive land and farms by engaging the youth in coffee production. They set up a so called cooperative-led farm management, to optimize productivity with the help of youth. As a result, the youth get a chance to increase their technical knowledge, are no longer unemployed and contribute actively to strengthening the position of the cooperative.
Within one year, youth were actively working on 20 farms through the farm management project. The income of all members increased because of the higher amount of produced coffee and a better quality of the product.
Two years later, 43 farms of 80 hectares in total are supported through the farm management project. In total, 2920 working days (36,5 working days per year per hectare) are created for the youth; equivalent to over 13 full time employees.