Rianjagi

The Rianjagi Factory is located in Embu County on the southeastern side of Mt. Kenya. The factory, as washing stations are known in Kenya, belongs to the Rianjagi Farmer’s Cooperative Society, whose membership consists of more than 2,500 local farmers.

Farms here are incredibly small in scale, with plots averaging less than a quarter of a hectare. Coffee here grows alongside tea, subsistence crops, and shade trees, which frequently include avocados, macadamias, and mangoes.

Rianjagi's farmers cultivate mostly SL-28 and SL-34, varieties developed by Scott Labs in the 1930s specifically to succeed in Kenya's climate. Because SL-28 and SL-34 are susceptible to coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease, farmers here also grow some Batian and Ruiru 11, newer, disease-resistant cultivars developed through selective cross breeding of several other varieties including both common SLs and the Timor hybrids...