KENYA STANDARDS        DKS 2468: 201 8 
ICS 91.100.01  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Makuti — Specificatio n 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© KEBS 2018         First Edition 2018 
 
PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFT  DKS 2468: 201 8 
 
ii         © KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved  TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION  
 
The following Organizations were represented on the Technical Committee:  
 
Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute ( KIRDI)  
Kaloleni Coconut Development Project  
Precious Food  
Tezo/Roka Farners Co -operative Society  
Sereni Kenya  
Pwani University  
Rumorth Group of Companies  
Amua Self H elp Group  
Honest Indusries Ltd.  
Export Promotion Cou ncil  
Kentaste  Produc ts Ltd.  
Pwani Aloe Vera  
Mnazi Development  Enterprise  
New Galana Farmers Co -operative Society  
Msambweni Coconut Producers  
Tarumbeta Women Group  
Palm International  
T.M. Abdulhussein and  Sons (Minara)  
Wakesho Women Group  
Pate Self H elp Group  
County Council of Lamu  
Kenya Coconut Development Authority (KCDA)  
Kenya Bureau of Standards — Secretariat  
 
 
 
 
 
REVISION OF KENYA STANDARDS  
 
In order to keep abreast of progress in industry, Kenya Standards shall be regularly reviewed. Suggestions 
for improvements to published standards, addressed to the Managing Director, Kenya Bureau of Standards, 
are welcome.  
 
 
 
 
 
 Kenya Bureau of Standards, 20 18 
 
Copyright.  Users are   reminded that by virtue of Section 25 of the Copyright Act, Cap. 12 of 2001 of the Laws of Kenya, copyright 
subsists in all Kenya Standards and except as provided under Section 26 of this Act, no Kenya Standard produced by Kenya Bure au of 
Standards may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmitted by any m eans without prior permission in writing 
from the Managing Director.  
 
 KENYA STANDARDS         DKS  2468: 201 8 
ICS 91.100.01  
© KEBS 201 8   — All rights reserved      iii  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Makuti — Specification  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KENYA BUREAU OF STANDARDS (KEBS)  
 
Head Office:  P.O. Box 54974, Nairobi -00200, Tel.: (+254 020) 605490, 602350, Fax: (+254 020) 60 4031  
E-Mail: info@kebs.org,  Web:http://www.kebs.org   
 
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P.O. Box 99376, Mombasa -80100     P.O. Box 2949, Kisumu -40100         P.O. Box 2138, Nakuru -2010 0 
Tel.: (+254 041) 229563, 230939/40    Tel.: (+254 057) 23549, 22396        Tel.: (+254 051) 210553, 210555  
Fax: (+254 041) 229448     Fax: (+254 057) 21814  
 DKS 2468: 201 8 
 
iv         © KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved  Foreword  
 
Kenya Bureau of Standards is a national standards bod y (NSB). The work of preparing Kenya  Standards is 
normally carried out through national  technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for 
which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. 
National  organizations, governmental and non -governmental, in liaison with KEBS , also take part in the work.  
Kenya  Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the KS ISO/IEC  Directives, Part  2. 
The main task of technical committees is to prepare National  Standards. Draft Keny a Standards adopted by 
the technical committees are circulated to the technical committee member s for ballo ting. Publication as a 
Kenya  Standard requires approval by at least 2/3 of the member s casting a vote.  
Attention is drawn to the possibility that som e of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent 
rights. KEBS  shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
This Kenya Standard  was prepared by Technical Committee KEBS /TC 171, Coconut and Coconut Related 
Produ cts and Services . 
This Standard  will inter alia:  
 
1. Make it possible to make  makuti that  is desirable to the consumers . 
 
2. Ensure that suppliers deliver makuti that comply with the Kenya Standards . 
 
3. Be a cost -saving measure by avoiding the testing of a wide  range of makuti which do not comply with 
the requirements of the Kenya Standards . 
 
4. Encourage local manufacturers of such makuti to upgrade their technologies /comply with the set 
standards . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
KENYA STANDARD        DKS 2468: 201 8 
 
 
© KEBS 2018 — All rights reserved      1  
Makuti  — Specification  
 
1 Scope  
 
This Kenya Standard prescribes the requirements and methods of test for  makuti . 
 
2 Field of application  
 
This Kenya Standard  covers makuti,  used for roofing, partitioning and fencing.  
 
3 Terms and definition s 
 
For th e purposes of this workshop agreement , the following definitions shall apply:  
 
3.1 
makuti  
shall be the material obtained from coconut tree leaves, the leaves of which are intertwined onto a sized  
stick known as upongoo  and woven using approp riate material used for roofing  
 
3.2 
pongoo  
a dry woody material obta ined from compound leaf of a palm or cycad. The wood shall be smooth with sharp 
edges that can cause injury and shal l be harvested from mature palm  
 
3.3 
large makuti  
shall be makuti of 120 cm width and 45cm length  
 
3.5 
standard makuti  
shall be makuti of 60  cm width and 45cm length  
 
3.4 
small makuti  
shall be makuti of 30 cm width and 45 cm length  
 
4  Classification of makuti  
 
Makuti shall be c lassified  into the following categories.  
 
 Class   Size (in cm)  
 Standard  61 ± 1 
 Small   45 ± 0.5 DKS 2468: 201 8 
 
2   © KEBS 2018  — All rights reserved   
 
 
Figure 2 — Makuti  processing  
 
5  Requirements  
 
5.1 General  
 
5.1.1  Makuti shall be harvested from mature brownish coconut leaves . 
 Upongoo  
 
Dry Coconut 
leaves  
Figure 1 — An illustration of k uti DKS 2468: 2018  
 
© KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved           3 5.1.2 Makuti  shall be coarse, stiff and brown in colour.  
 
5.1.3 The makuti  shall be free from pests and rotten material.  
 
5.1.4 The fronds  shall be neatly woven  on the kanja using  an appropriate means.  
 
5.1.5   The width  of the makuti  when measured by a metre rule, at least 90 % shall be as described in  
Clause 4 of this workshop agreement . 
 
5.1.6 The moisture content for  makuti  shall not exceed 20 % when determined in  accordance with A nnex 
B or by use of a moisture meter.  
 
5.1.7 The single frond  shall be appropriately shaven and shall not have any sharp edges that can cause 
injury . 
 
6 Packing 
 
The makuti shall be packed in bundles of 20 pieces.  
 
7 Labelling  
 
Each bundle shall be accompanied by the following labelling information:  
 
i) Name of product , ‘makuti’ ; 
 
ii) Number of pieces in a bundle ; 
 
iii) Name, physical lo cation and address of p rocessor ; 
 
iv) Country of origin . 
 
8 Sampling and acceptance criteria  
 
8.1 Consignment  
 
Shall be the quantity of makuti  from the same sou rce available in the market at any one time.  
 
8.2 Any sample of makuti  randomly sampled from a consignment shall comply  with the requirements of 
this Kenya Standard  and shall be representative of the entire consignment. Sampling shall be done in 
accordance with A nnex A. 
 
 
 DKS 2468: 201 8 
 
4   © KEBS 2018  — All rights reserved   
Annex A 
(normative)  
 
Sampling plan and preparation of samples  
 
A.1 Scale of sampling  
 
A.1.1 The num ber of stacks  to be selected from a consignment shall depend on the size of the 
consignment and shall be in accordance with Table A.1. 
 
Table A.1 — Scale of sampling coconut bristle fibres  
 
 
Number of stacks in the 
consignment   
Number of makutis to be 
selected 
 
Up to 50   
3 
 
51 to 100   
4 
 
101 to 150   
5 
 
151 to 300   
7 
 
301 to 500   
10 
 
 
 
A.1.2 These stacks  shall be selected at random.  
 
A.2 Preparation of samples  
 
A.2.1 From each of the stacks  selected as in Clause  A.1, draw an individual sample of about 2 000 g for 
laboratory analysis.  
 
A.2.2 Each sample shall be sealed and marked with the following information:  
 
i) supplier’s name;  
 
ii) date of sampling;  
 
ii) identification code.  
 
 
 
 
 
 DKS 2468: 2018  
 
© KEBS 201 8 — All rights reserved           5 Annex B 
(normative)  
 
Method for determination of moisture content in  makuti  
 
D.1 Apparatus  
 
D.1.1 Conditioning oven, with forced ventilation, provided with positive valve control and capable of 
maintaining a temperature of 100oC, equipped with a weighing balance arranged to weigh bristle fibres with 
an accuracy of 0.5 g wh ile suspended within the drying chamber, the holder of the fibre to be of such a type 
as to ensure free access of dry air to all portion s of fibre.  
 
D.2 Procedure  
 
D.2.1 Remove about 500 g of coir  fibres  from the individual  sample ( see A .2.1) and  weigh to the nearest 
0.5 g. Place the test specimen in the conditioning oven and dry for 1 h and weigh to the nearest 0.5 g. Dry 
for another 15 min  and weigh to the nearest 0.5 g.  Provided the loss in mass in drying of the test specimen 
as disclosed by the firs t and second weighing s does not exceed 0.25 per cent of first mass, take the second 
mass to be the dry mass of the test specimen.  If the loss exceeds 0.25 per cent, weigh  the test specimen at 
15 min  intervals till the loss between two successive weighings  is 0.25 % or less of the first of the two 
masses.  
 
D.2.2 Calculate the percentage of moisture content by the following formula:  
 
Moisture content, per cent mass =  
12 1 100) (
mmm  
 
where,  
 
 m1 is the mass of the original test specimen, and  
 
 m2 is the mass of the oven -dried test specimen.