Huye coffee
Huye Coffee: Coffee Producer in Rwanda
Huye Coffee are located in the southern province of Rwanda. The coffee producing co-operative have two washing stations that process 1,000 metric tonnes (MT) of cherries per year (1MT equals 1000kg).
The co-operative work with 10,173 coffee farmers, to export their produce to the UK, USA, Thailand, Singapore and Japan. During Fairtrade Fortnight 2022, we brought our supporters and farmers together in a series of online events, to discuss the issues faced in different regions of the world.
In East Africa, we heard from the region's Shared Interest Lending Manager, Immaculate Ochieno, alongside Founder and Managing Director of Huye Coffee, David Rubanzangabo, who joined us from Rwanda.
Supporting Producers in responding to climate change
Speaking about the impacts of climate change in their region, David said:
“The region is mountainous so is prone to soil erosion. Food security is an issue due to the vulnerability of certain crops to increased temperatures. Coffee trees are very sensitive to these changes, forcing growers to go to higher lands, which again are more prone to erosion. Meanwhile, the valleys and lowlands suffer from increased flooding, causing loss of human life as well as products and property.
"The southern province has become increasingly dry over the past 20 years. This has caused crop growth to reduce significantly and should this continue, productivity will drop by at least 50%."
Huye Coffee has put measures in place to support its farmers including encouraging farmers to diversify. They have also established a farmer field school to teach Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) techniques such as creating organic compost and planting orange and mango trees for shade.
Speaking about whether the co-operative trained farmers in techniques such as permaculture, David said:
“I produce coffee on my own farm so I understand the challenges faced. We have a technical team that goes to meet farmers, as well as five trained agronomists, and we also receive support from the Rwandan Coffee Board.”
Speaking about how climate change has impacted the needs of producers, Immaculate said: “There is more uncertainty
about production and price, which affects co-operatives being able to pay farmers on time. However, as well as climate change there are also market changes, shipping issues and the impact of Covid-19.”
David added: “We started to see changes three or four years ago, production went down and income was low.
"We are introducing intercropping with coffee and bananas. Intercropping is where we grow two or more crops in proximity to produce a greater yield. It remains difficult to plan ahead - some days there is a lot of rain and others there is a lot of sun. We also organised for farmers to learn how to make manure at home mixed with coffee pulp.”
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