There is a need to embrace best farming practices to enhance production, which will help address the issue of price fluctuations facing farmers.

The call was made on Wednesday in Kigoma, Huye District, at the launch of a saving campaign for farmers and awarding coffee farmers awards ceremony.

The event was organised by Huye Mountain Coffee, the brand for David and Family Ltd, a Huye-based coffee company.

Production per coffee tree stands at between 1.9 kilogramme and two kilogrammes against the production potential per tree of five kilogrammes, according to the Rwanda National Exports Board (NAEB), Southern Zone Coordinator, Alexis Nkurunziza.

Nkurunziza said maximising the production potential necessitates adopting good farming practices, from land preparation to harvest process.

‘‘There is also a need to ensure that coffee produce is taken to factories for post-harvest handling to get fully washed coffee,’’ he added.

Félicien Ntamavukiro, a famers’ representative from Simbi Sector, Huye District said they have acquired quite a lot from coffee farming, including building houses, paying health insurance and school fees for children.

There are about 1,850 famers in Huye District working with Huye Mountain Coffee.

This year the farmers took 840 tonnes of produce to Huye Mountain Coffee.

Ntamavukiro, however, cited low coffee prices and flaws in fertiliser distribution at local government level among their challenges.

The price of one kilogramme of coffee cherries is between Rwf170 and Rwf200.

Ntamavukiro said that in Simbi Sector some farmers failed to get fertilisers 28 tonnes had been distributed – due to irregularities.

He implored NAEB and the district leadership to find ways of addressing the challenges.

Huye vice mayor for finance and economic development Cyprien Mutwarasibo told the farmers that the price of their coffee would be determined by the market demand and urged them to double efforts to increase production.

He also urged area agronomists to look into the issue of fertiliser distribution.

"It would be a problem if the programmes designed for the people is not well implemented, if the fertilisers did not reach the beneficiaries,” he said.

Savings and self-reliance

David Rubanzangabo, the Managing Director of David and Family Ltd, said their wish was for farmers to get quality coffee.

The company provided famers with equipment worth Rwf1.9 million.

The equipment included pressure sprayers, and scissors. The company also provided 5.6 million to farmers in a bid to support their savings scheme.

A total of 569 coffee farmers under 22 groups have saved about Rwf2.8 million since the savings programme among coffee farmers was launched earlier this year.

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