Coffee from Rwanda: savouring a dream
Coffee production is a traditional source of income for many Rwandans. But in the aftermath of civil war and the 1944 genocide, most coffee growers had to start again from scratch. An IFAD-financed project gave them a hand, helping them organize into cooperatives and gain access to Europe’s lucrative fair trade markets. The project not only led to a substantial increase in their income, but it also contributed to the national reconciliation process.
Photo: At the Bicumbi washing station,
coffee is stored in 50 kg sacks, then sold through fair trade outlets. In 2005, the station produced 24 tonnes of first-grade Arabica coffee. |
From April to the end of June, the Sakara coffee washing station in Rwanda’s Eastern Province bustles with activity. Coffee-growers in nine surrounding areas come to weigh their crops. For the more than 1,000 members of IAKAB, the association that manages the washing station, it is the beginning of a fruitful season.
"We got together in 1999 to reactivate coffee as a cash crop. Coffee cultivation has a long history in the region," says Ephraim Ndengabaganizi, president of IAKAB. "Many coffee plantations whose owners were killed or displaced by the 1994 genocide were abandoned, and we lost many members. We decided to join forces to get better prices for our product, and also to bring the community together after the hard times of the war."
The history of the IAKAB association is not at all unique. Many communities have resumed cultivating crops that they grew before the genocide, and all of the communities are trying to heal the still-painful wounds of the past. IAKAB in particular received a push in the right direction.
Making a cash crop profitable
Graded sack of coffee at the Sakara
coffee washing station. |
In 2003 IFAD and Rwanda’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources launched the Smallholder Cash and Export Crops Development Project. The project helps the poorest producers organize into cooperatives, assists them in building or rehabilitating washing stations and improves their access to fair trade distribution channels, which are much more advantageous than traditional sales networks. Work began on the production chain for coffee in 2005 and for tea in 2006.
At the start of the project two main partners were involved: Twin Trading Ltd (TWIN), which is an NGO specializing in fair trade, and OCIR-Café, which is the public coffee agency. OCIR-Café’s role was to train producers, ensure quality control at its tasting laboratory and manage the project’s nurseries.
TWIN organized producers into cooperatives and enforced standards to ensure access to the fair trade market through certification. For example, cooperatives were required to pay seasonal workers at the washing station the national minimum wage, and to follow health regulations. The station was also required to recycle processing waste to protect the environment.
Now Misozi Ltd, an export and marketing company that works on behalf of the coffee cooperatives, has replaced TWIN. Misozi Ltd is responsible for overseeing the management of the washing station and for ensuring compliance with fair trade regulations.
Although the efforts of TWIN, OCIR-Café and Misozi Ltd were crucial to putting the cooperatives on their feet, it is the association’s members who are formally responsible for quality control and the quantity of coffee produced. To become part of the cooperative, coffee-growers pay an initial membership fee of 1,000 Rwandan francs (about US$2), and they are required to sell their entire production to the washing station to make the best use of the facility and amortize operating costs. Because of the shortage of cash, it was difficult at first to prevent producers from selling their coffee cherries to local bulkers. But now producers clearly consider coffee-growing a business that can increase their earnings. Farmers are now able to send their children to school and pay for medical insurance for their families.
Organization is strength
Twagirumukiza Onesphore and
Afuliko Theoneste weigh coffee at
Kerenge coffee washing station. |
The association’s members are scattered over nine areas adjacent to the station. Some of them have to travel long distances, but producers who live near the washing station take in their coffee cherries on foot or by bicycle. Those who live at a distance from the station take their cherries to collection points, where they are weighed and transported to the station. Operations are impeccably run and producers have to wait no more than a week for payment.
Work at the washing station is efficiently organized. Workers weigh the cherries on arrival, then take them to a machine that removes the fruity pulp. Cherries are then washed in large vats, and sorted and dried on drying tables. To protect the environment, waste water is collected in earthen gutters that act as filters and the pulp is used to make fertilizer.
"We used to do everything by hand, at home. It was very hard work and we didn’t have the training to produce quality coffee," says Ephraim Ndengabaganizi.
By early July, calm returns at the station, where a few seasonal workers are busy preparing bags of coffee, mostly of the Arabica type, for sale on European markets.
Rebates: a real advantage for members
At the station the same purchase price for coffee cherries is paid to all, but members receive two payments. Once the coffee has been sold and operating expenses, as well as any loan repayments, have been covered, the association redistributes profits among members at a ceremony to which all are invited, including buyers’ representatives.
Although the rebate ceremony takes place at year-end, it is a constant topic of conversation, beginning early in the year. In 2007, the cooperatives assisted by the project produced about 250 tonnes of coffee, which were sold for an average price of US$3.85 per kg, compared to US$2.50 in 2004.
"With the profits we make, we will build schools and clinics. After that, we’ll buy a vehicle for coffee collection," says the president of IAKAB. "We would also like to set up a small bank in our sector, a small microfinance institution. At the moment we waste a lot of time and money borrowing from banks in Kigali. The rates are favourable, but the process takes too long."
The coffee of hope
After the coffee is washed, it is put out
to dry on large tables, as seen here at
the Sakara washing station. |
Given the success of the business and the evident increase in the coffee-growers’ living standards, many farmers decided to follow their example. More than 7 million coffee seedlings were distributed, against the 550,000 originally planned.
The production area increased from 30,595 hectares in 2004 to 32,615 hectares in 2007 and the volume of export-quality coffee rose from 86.7 tonnes in 2005 at the introduction of coffee washing stations to 180.0 tonnes in 2006 and 253.0 tonnes in 2007. Total income for the project cooperatives was multiplied by four in two years, rising from US$260,000 in 2005 to almost US$1.0 million in 2007.
Coffee is not the only source of subsistence for producers in the project area, since all of them grow their own food. Yet most of them earn less than one dollar a day, and coffee is an important source of income. For producers who take advantage of the opportunity and make good use of the profits, cultivating coffee could give them a chance to dream, also.
Source: IFAD
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