Rwanda, Fairtrade and the Coffee Industry
Published the day I returned from Rwanda (February 25th), I thought the following article covered much of what I saw and experienced while in Rwanda.
This is a story about gourmet coffee and genocide. It takes place in Rwanda by Alex Renton…The article goes more in depth in finding perspectives on the question of the shadow of the civil war, the coffee industry in Rwanda and the larger questions surrounding Fairtrade. The focus on only the highly celebrated Abahazumugambi Bakawa co-operative that produces the Maraba coffee is not reflective of all that is Fairtrade in Rwanda. Fairtrade is an emerging concept in Rwanda.
The USAID funded projects in Rwanda have been criticized for providing money without organization and creating a myopic perception that the answer to better quality beans, and higher prices, is simply building washing stations. Rwanda’s small individual coffee farmers, who often manage less than 200 trees, are ideally set up to work in cooperatives and to produce organic, shade grown coffee on the Fairtrade market. Yet, there isn’t a wide acceptance or appreciation to the above agricultural concepts in the ministry of agriculture or among the producer cooperatives. Money to purchase each farmer a cow, for fertilizer, and some macadamia and other tree saplings, for shade, would go a long way in helping to produce high quality beans that the specialty market demands.