Tropical Farm Management Kenya

Tropical Farm Management Kenya (TFMK) is a subsidiary of Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG), the largest coffee trading group in the world, and has a long-standing experience in coffee farm management. TFMK is a marketing agent, financer, and service provider to farmers, which has a competitive edge through the NKG East Africa Network. Together with its sister company Ibero Kenya, NKG is the largest Coffee exporter in Kenya.

The project

Integrate 25,000 new coffee smallholders and 10 new cooperatives into TFMK value chain through the escalation of its existing farmer services and to develop new strategies to make the services offered more efficient: consequently, having a better impact on smallholders' livelihoods.

Project activities

• TFMK is expanding its short-term financing, offered at competitive rates to cooperatives and on-lending to its members, for working capital, inputs and labor or as advance for coffee.
• Developing and escalating extension services at cooperative level to train farmers and offer farm visit services.
• Renovating and rehabilitating program for farmers by setting up of a nursery to supply high yielding and resistant seedlings.
• TFMK is identifying and implementing diversification options for farmers, as a strategy to manage coffee price risk and to potentially serve as food security alternatives for families.
• Developing a strategy to incorporate a gender and youth lens in service ecosystem.
• Rolling out and refining the management systems for cooperatives (better management for service provision to smallholders), integrating the local TFMK system with clients (roasters) interface (market access for farmers) and developing a strategy to make the cost of the overall service delivery model as low as possible.