Dedan Kimathi University of Technology

The Dedan Kimathi University of Technology farm (or DeKUT), currently occupies 650 acres of land dedicated to hands-on agricultural training and horticultural research studies for its students, with coffee occupying the largest part of the farm’s focus. In addition to multiple certificate and degree programs offered by the university in areas related to coffee processing technology, quality management, cupping, and food science, the university farm also cultivates and provides coffee seedlings to area farmers at subsidized prices. The history of coffee farming on the land occupied by the university dates back to the 1920’s when Kenya was still under British colonial rule. It’s fitting then that the DeKUT’s namesake references a storied figure in Kenya’s struggle for independence from Britain during the 20th century. Born in Nyeri in 1920, Dedan Kimathi was a key military leader in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (also known as the Mau Mau) which staged acts of rebellion against British colonial rule throughout much of the 1950’s. While Kimathi would ultimately be captured and executed by the British colonial government in 1957, his leadership in cooperation with the Mau Mau uprising is recognized for its contribution to Kenya’s eventual independence from British colonial rule in 1963. After prolonged outcry by participants, relatives, and descendants of the Mau Mau to be recognized by Kenya’s post-colonial administrations, a colonial-era ban on the group was finally lifted in 2002, culminating with the unveiling of a statue dedicated to Dedan Kimathi in downtown Nairobi in 2007.

Located just 6 km north of the town of Nyeri, the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology sells lots like this one from its farm’s demonstration plots to continue to subsidize their agricultural education and research programs.