1.
GV Research Station sign
0.05

2.
Visitors alight from truck
0.13

3.
SV Mr. Wanjigi, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, with scientist PAN TO coffee crops
0.21

4.
GV Wanjigi and visitors walk through plantation
0.30

5.
GV Flowering coffee bushes (2 shots)
0.40

6.
GV PAN Wanjigi watches mechanical sprayer working (2)
0.56

7.
SV Party examines coffes plants (2)
1.09

8.
GV PAN Coffee plantation PAN to sign displaying results
1.22

9.
GV Wanjigi and ohters showsn over plantation
1.28

10.
CU Sign "Neutron Probe" PAN TO equipment
1.36

11.
SV Part examines scientific equipment
1.49

12.
GV Interior laboratory and visitors
1.54



Initials SC/005 SC/030



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Ruiru Coffee Research Station in Kenya celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary on Wednesday (13 March).

Founded in 1949, following earlier field trials, the station was initially financed by the British Colonial and Development Fund and run by the Kenyan administration.

It was relinquished by the administration in 1963 and came under the direct control of the industry through the Coffee Research Foundation.

Since its establishment, its primary function has been to research methods of improving coffee yields and investigating methods of pest and disease control.

The station employs a large staff of foreign and Kenyan-educated scientists and have a wide range of sophisticated equipment for botanical research.

SYNOPSIS: Twenty five years of research into coffee production were celebrated at the Ruiru Coffee Research Station in Kenya on Wednesday.

Attended by Kenya's Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Maina Wanjigi, the celebrations were open to the nation's thousands of coffee growers and workers. They had the opportunity to see at first hand the results of the latest experimental work.

With an annual budget of a quarter of a million pounds, provided by the coffee growers themselves, the station now researches all aspects of coffee production from weed and pest control to the use of artificial hormones and fertilisers.

Intensive research by scientists at the station has resulted in almost the complete control of the two main coffee plant diseases -- leaf rust and the coffee berry disease. Research has also mitigated the worst effects of Kenya's erratic rainfall. Among the most important successes has been the biological control of coffee pests, including the mealy bug which was controlled by parasites imported from the Congo.

Coffee is one of Kenya's most important crops and is a major foreign currency earner. Last year the national crop was twenty five per cent larger than for 1972, with most of the crop going to Europe. The Kenya Coffee Board attribute the heavier crop to improved pest control and superior management -- both pioneered by the Ruiru Research Station.