Rwanda - Nkara Women's Coffee

This special offering was produced using coffee cherry grown by 75 women who own small farms in the hills surrounding Nkara washing station, the largest and busiest of three washing stations owned by the Dukunde Kawa Cooperative.

Unlike most coffee-producing countries, where a farmer’s land size is used as a measure of scale, farms in Rwanda are often very small, and as a result production capability is measured by the number of trees a farmer tends to. The majority of women who contributed to this lot own a couple of hundred trees, planted on one tenth of a hectare of land, along with subsistence food crops like maize, beans and sorghum and livestock like cows, goats and chickens.

Many of the women who contributed to this lot are also members of Rambagirakawa, a women’s alliance within Dukunde Kawa that was formed to advocate for support and resources for female coffee producers. Through collaboration with both Rambagirakawa and international buyers, Dukunde Kawa has assisted the women in processing and marketing their coffees as a separated ‘Women’s Coffee’ lot, which earns them an additional bonus payment on top of the quality premium all cooperative members receive. To distinguish their coffee and ensure it is processed separately, the women have organised to deliver cherry to the washing station on certain days of the week. While this lot was processed at Nkara washing station, members of Rambagirakawa may also deliver to its sister washing stations, Mbilima and Ruli, depending on where they live.