African Coffee Connect: connect with extraordinary African coffee farmers.

Rwanda

Rwanda’s coffee profile has transformed over the last two decades. Major investments in washing stations have taken the country from a producer of medium quality arabica processed by smallholder farmers at home, to one known for its sweet and lively fully washed coffees, and a growing number of experimental lots.

The ACC team have been part of this journey since 2005, and today we are proud to work in the Progreso technical assistance programme to accompany six cooperatives to market their coffees internationally. These cooperatives are remarkable for their focus on developing coffees with an eye to the future of their community. This includes engaging groups of women and young people to invest in their farms, and to deliver exceptional fully traceable coffees to discerning roasters within long term and mutually rewarding partnerships.

Kopakaki Dutegere Cooperative

Founded in 2007 as part of the PDRCE programme run by TWIN, Kopakaki is one of Rwanda’s pioneering coffee cooperatives, with a proud and resilient history. After facing a challenging few years, the cooperative now has 1206 members and produces over 900,000kg of cherries each year.

Kopakaki is deeply committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of its production. The cooperative is leading the way in developing and producing organic compost and pesticides, including an impressive large-scale "wormery."

The cooperative also boasts an active women’s association, where women come together to work on the coffee plot and learn new cultivation techniques. They produce small lots of women’s coffee for export, highlighting the important role women play in the industry.

Kopakaki’s well-established youth program has made great strides since its inception, growing from 16 to 86 active participants. The cooperative has also introduced the Nyabihuta youth internship program in partnership with the Rwanda Training and Vocation Board. This initiative provides young people with hands-on experience across every stage of the coffee value chain—from production to processing, quality evaluation, and roasting. Due to the success of the pilot program, plans are underway to expand it nationwide.

Email: kopakakidutegure@gmail.com

WhatsApp: +250789093417, +250788802132

Nyampinga Cooperative

What makes Nyampinga special?

Nyampinga is a pioneering organisation founded by and for women farmers. It has built up a strong track record of delivering training and services to its members, and delivering high quality coffee to its customers. They are now ready to expand, bringing in more women farmers, extending their processing and quality evaluation infrastructure through a grant from USADF and growing their coffee volumes. For this they want to find additional buyers.

History

Nyampinga Cooperative began in 2007 with 60 members, initially as a savings group. In 2009, the cooperative gained legal status but struggled to sell its coffee due to the lack of a washing station. In 2013, Sustainable Growers Rwanda became a long-term partner, supporting the cooperative in agricultural practices, management, and quality control. In 2015, with their assistance, a washing station was built, financing was secured, and market access improved. Today, Nyampinga employs six permanent staff, 100 seasonal workers, and targets five container exports by 2027. It also provides members with loans, health insurance, bonuses, and community resources.

Email: Nyampingacooperative2@gmail.com

Whatsapp: +250788231750

Kigembe Coffee Cooperative

Kigembe coffee cooperative was founded in 2010 as part of the Coffee Initiative program run by Technoserve. It currently has 210 members of which 73 are women. As an emerging cooperative, they have seen increased capacity in processing up to 345 tons of coffee cherries. The cooperative also owns a coffee plantation with 3,400 coffee trees. Kigembe has formed groups of women farmers and young farmers to give them a stake in the future of coffee production.

Kigembe Coffee Cooperative has taken steps to protect their environment. They have planted grasses and diverse trees on their land to reduce soil erosion and to prevent desertification. They have also built a number of pits for water collection and cherry pulps.

Kigembe cooperative have built their own site office, equipment room, and stock room. They employ 5 full-time workers and 70 causal workers of which 85% are women. They have provided medical insurance to all full-time employees as well as providing the contribution to local schools in their community.

Email: kigembecoffee@gmail.com

WhatsApp: +250784730920

Website: https://www.kigembecoffee.rw/

Buhanga Coffee Cooperative

What makes Buhanga special?

Established in 2009, Buhanga Coffee Cooperative aims to produce high quality green coffee in order to promote farmers livelihoods, ensuring their economic and environmental sustainability. Buhanga have implemented a number of initiatives to support their producers. They grow production by preparing and distributing 30,000 seedlings to farmers each year at no cost and provide shade trees to protect soil from erosion. They supply livestock to support organic manure production and use solar energy use to reduce CO2 emissions. Following these interventions coffee quality has improved, with cupping scores increasing from 84 to a range of 85–87.

Young people

Buhanga Coffee Cooperative is deeply committed to fostering greater involvement of young people in coffee production, recognizing the vital role they play in shaping the future of the industry. To achieve this, they are taking two key approaches:

Encouraging farmers to provide their children with a portion of land and coffee trees to manage, giving them the opportunity to earn an income and develop hands-on experience.
Supporting initiatives led by inspiring young leaders like Anesia, our 23-year-old agronomist. In 2022, Anesia established a savings group for young people, which began with 30 members meeting weekly. Today, the group has grown to 52 members, and alongside financial empowerment, Anesia provides valuable agronomy training.

Email: buhangacoffee@gmail.com

Website: www.buhangacoffee.rw

Whatsapp: +250784023086

COCAHU Coffee Cooperative

COCAHU was established in 2005 as a cooperative with 212 members, including 47 women. In 2024 it exported 38,400 kg of green coffee and sold 19,200 kg locally. COCAHU’s vision is to empower coffee farmers who have long faced the challenges of small-scale farming. Recognizing coffee’s potential as a driver for change, we united to form a cooperative that provides farmers with a stronger market presence, better resources, and opportunities to improve their livelihoods.

COCAHU has a very well-equipped washing station, recently complemented by a first-class coffee warehouse and the acquisition of a truck. They now want to boost their coffee production from two to four containers.

Key achievements

Increased Coffee Production: We have successfully increased the number of coffee trees among small-scale farmers, leading to a higher volume of coffee production.
Improved Coffee Quality: Through focused efforts on training and better farming practices, the quality of the coffee produced has significantly improved.
Enhanced Farmer Income: As a result of increased production and improved quality, the income of small-scale coffee farmers has seen a notable rise.
Social Initiatives: We’ve implemented social programs, including job creation, health insurance for members, and social security contributions, which have positively impacted the well-being of our community.

Email: cocahucooperative@yahoo.com

WhatsApp: +250788784843

Maraba Cooperative

Maraba Cooperative’s mission is to combat poverty through the production of high-quality, competitive coffee. Founded in 1999 as an association and legally established as a cooperative in 2002, the cooperative now operates four coffee washing stations, a dry mill, and a cupping lab. With 1,561 members, the cooperative produces between 6 and 10 containers of green coffee annually. It is fully Fair Trade certified, with one of its coffee washing stations also certified organic. Maraba offers a range of specialty coffees, including women-produced coffee, natural coffee, and honey-processed coffee.

The cooperative has a farmer’s saving and credit fund. They also supply farmers with a variety of shade trees and environmentally-friendly cooking stoves. They also support their members in their coffee farming activities such as planting new coffee trees, replacing old trees and producing organic compost.

The cooperative’s coffee plants are the Bourbon variety of the Coffea arabica species and are grown on fertile volcanic soils on high-altitude hills. The fruit is handpicked, mostly during the rainy season between March and May, and brought to a washing station in Maraba, where the coffee beans are extracted and dried. At several stages, the beans are sorted according to quality. The farmers receive credits based on the amount and quality of the beans they provide.