Coffee growers in Kenya’s highland regions know how quickly foliar diseases can become a challenge during cool and wet periods. Frequent rainfall, prolonged leaf wetness and mild temperatures can create favourable conditions for diseases such as coffee leaf rust, making effective crop protection an important part of farm management.
Between 15 June and 18 August 2026, Complex Food Agro Limited conducted a practical field demonstration on a coffee farm in Cheborgei, Bureti Sub-County, Kericho County, approximately 5 km west of Litein. The objective was to observe how coffee plants would respond to a biological treatment programme combining EcoRic Shield Coffee Care and EcoRic Bioma L-Factor.
The Trial Setup
Four rows of coffee plants were selected for the EcoRic programme. During the 64-day trial period, the test rows received three spray applications and, according to farm records, were excluded from the farm’s chemical fungicide applications.
The programme combined two biological products:
EcoRic Shield Coffee Care is a Bacillus subtilis-based biological crop-protection product developed to help reduce disease pressure and improve plant resilience.
EcoRic Bioma L-Factor is based on Lactobacillus plantarum and is intended to support beneficial microbial activity, nutrient availability, organic matter transformation and the suppression of harmful microorganisms.
The trial was conducted during the cooler June-August season in the Kericho highlands. In the nearby Litein area, average temperatures during this period are around 17°C, while rainfall remains frequent. Such conditions can favour the development and persistence of coffee foliar diseases.
Before EcoRic Treatment
At the beginning of the trial, the coffee crop already carried a strong berry load. However, the photographs taken before treatment also showed signs of foliar stress.
Visible symptoms included:
- yellowing leaves;
- localised necrotic spots and lesions;
- uneven foliage colour;
- reduced leaf quality on several fruiting branches.
These observations provided the visual baseline for evaluating the crop after the EcoRic programme.
What Was Observed After Three EcoRic Applications?
By the final assessment on 18 August 2026, the appearance of the EcoRic-treated rows had changed noticeably.
The final photographs showed a greener and more uniform canopy, healthier-looking new foliage and substantially fewer obvious rust-like or necrotic lesions than were visible before treatment. The coffee plants continued to carry a strong fruit load.
Farm feedback was consistent with the photographic observations. Growers reported that leaf rust had been managed and that the EcoRic-treated coffee had developed very green leaves with little to no visible leaf rust.
EcoRic-Treated Rows vs. the Conventional Reference Area
The farm also supplied photographs from a non-EcoRic area managed under its conventional input programme.
In these reference photographs, yellowing leaves, necrotic lesions and visible foliage damage remained present. In comparison, the EcoRic-treated rows showed more uniform green foliage and fewer visible disease-like symptoms.
The clearest difference was not fruit load — all photographed areas had a substantial crop — but foliage condition.
The report’s side-by-side comparison found:
- Before treatment: uneven foliage colour, yellow leaves and visible lesions;
- After EcoRic: more uniform, darker green foliage and little to no obvious rust in the supplied final photographs;
- Conventional reference: continued yellowing, necrosis and disease-like leaf damage.
Fruit load remained high across all three conditions.
Why the Result Is Relevant for Kericho Coffee Growers
Kericho’s highland conditions can place significant disease pressure on coffee plants.
During June, July and August, the area typically experiences frequent rainy days, mild daytime temperatures and extended periods of moisture on plant surfaces. These conditions can support the development of coffee foliar diseases and make spray coverage and crop resilience particularly important.
The positive visual response observed in Cheborgei is therefore encouraging because it occurred during a period when disease pressure could reasonably be expected to remain significant.
Biological Crop Protection as Part of an Integrated Coffee Programme
The Cheborgei demonstration highlights the potential role of biological solutions in modern coffee production.
Instead of looking only at conventional chemical inputs, growers can increasingly consider programmes that combine biological crop protection, microbial support and good agronomic management.
For coffee farmers, the objective is not simply to apply another product. The goal is to maintain a healthier photosynthetic canopy, reduce disease pressure, support plant resilience and protect the crop’s productive potential.
The trial also highlights the importance of evaluating agricultural inputs according to their actual function. Сomparing EcoRic directly with mineral fertilizer on a “millilitres per pump” basis can be misleading because the products perform different roles. Coffee Care is positioned as a biological crop-protection product, while L-Factor provides microbial soil and plant support.
What Comes Next?
The Cheborgei field demonstration produced a clear positive visual result, but Complex Food Agro also recognises the importance of building stronger quantitative evidence.
Future commercial trials should include:
- matched EcoRic and conventional treatment blocks;
- exact records of spray dates, volumes and application intervals;
- coffee leaf rust incidence scoring before each treatment;
- rainfall records;
- harvested yield measurements;
- coffee cherry quality assessment;
- total treatment cost per hectare;
- records of chemical fungicide interventions avoided or reduced.
These measurements would help convert the strong visual response seen in Cheborgei into a quantified agronomic and economic case for larger-scale adoption.
A Promising Field Result
After three EcoRic applications, the treated coffee rows in Cheborgei finished the trial with greener foliage, a healthier-looking canopy and markedly fewer visible leaf-rust symptoms than were observed before treatment and in the photographed conventional reference area.
The result provides an encouraging indication of how EcoRic Shield Coffee Care and EcoRic Bioma L-Factor may support coffee growers looking for biological tools to strengthen crop health and manage disease pressure.
Interested in testing EcoRic solutions on your coffee farm?
Contact Complex Food Agro Limited to discuss biological crop-protection and plant-support programmes for coffee production in Kenya.