Raymond's Story
Bananas and coffee? It seemed like an odd combination, but then Raymond let us in on his secret...
"Je, unajua kwamba migomba ni mizuru Did you know bananas are good kwa kahawa? Tunapanda migomba karibu for coffee? We plant banana trees close to na mibuni yetu. Katika kivuli cha migomba, our coffee plants. In their shade, kahawa hukomaa polepole na pia kiasi cha
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beans mature more slowly and sukari yake ya asili huongezeka. natural sugars increase. Hiyo huongeza ladha. That enhances the flavour. (…) Hii ni kahawa yetu This is our coffee and na tunaijali. we care for it. Kadri ubora wake unavyoongezeka, The better it gets, nasi pia twanufaika. the better we get. "
Raymond Kimaro
As well as representing his fellow coffee, tea and cocoa producers on the Cafedirect Board, Raymond is the General Manager of the Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union (KNCU) and a coffee grower himself. The 61,000 smallholder growers that make up KNCU are scattered around the slopes of Kilimanjaro have recently celebrated their 75th anniversary and are the oldest co-operative in Africa.
find out more
Raymond's co-operative
find out more about KNCU
watch a film of KNCU's anniversary