For most people, Rwf1000 is a little amount that cannot do much. But for a group of coffee farmers in Nyamasheke District, it was enough to start an investment to boost their productivity.

When coffee farmers in Macuba Sector, Nyamasheke District set out to form a cooperative and start a coffee washing station to help boost their income, the first challenge they met was raising capital.

However, they decided to contribute Rwf1,000 per farmer to raise the money.

The farmers set up a cooperative dubbed "KOTEMUKAMA.”

The cooperative finally achieved their targets last year following the first produce from their coffee washing station which they say has improved quality and output.

This also enabled them fetch better prices, according to the cooperative’s President Deogratius Bagaragaza.

It was among the 40 top cooperatives that took part in the recent ‘Cup of Excellence Competition’ after being selected out of over 374 cooperatives across the country.

"We started as 101 farmers and each coffee farmer contributed Rwf1,000. We started the cooperative in 2015 with a target to set up a coffee washing station. We later got an operating licence from National Agricultural Export Development Board and started building a factory,” he told Business Times.

After getting the licence to set up a coffee washing station, he said, the farmers decided to increase the contribution from Rwf1,000 to Rwf20,000 owing to the good harvests in 2015.

Construction of the facility began in 2016.

The membership of the cooperative has since grown to 232 farmers who currently grow coffee on 50 hectares.

Through the cooperative, the farmers learn the whole coffee value chain process including; coffee nursing, selection of cherries, roasting and conservation, preparing and serving coffee as well as marketing skills.

"We did not have enough capital to start building but we increased the contributions and also invested our own manpower as farmers to build the coffee washing station worth about Rwf60 million,” he said.

The first season of the factory’s production, he said, they harvested 183 tonnes of cherry which produced   32 tonnes first-grade value added coffee, 6 tonnes of the second grade and 3 tonnes of the third grade.

However, Bagaragaza said that this year the produce might decrease by half due to weather patterns.

However, the produce is expected to return to normal in the coming months.

"After removal of the soft skins or pulps, we also sell the produce to other companies that add value before exporting the produce. We are now linked to the market and farmers who sell harvest to thecoffee washing station get better prices compared to others,” he said.

He explained that for farmers who do not have access to coffee washing station they sell at Rwf240 per one kilogramme while those with access sell at Rwf320.

"Once the cherry is processed, it also attracts better prices.  We sell it at Rwf2, 030 per Kilo gramme,” he said.

Access to finance

Bagaragaza said that every season the cooperative gets a bank loan to immediately pay farmers who take their harvest to the coffee washing station.

"Recently, we secured a loan of Rwf50 million which we used to pay farmers who supplied us to ensure that they do not suffer from the payment delays. We have already paid back the loan,” he said.

"In the first season, we got a profit of Rwf6 million because of such value addition to coffee and that is why we purchased more land where we are set to build our offices and stores. We are also planning to build more water tanks to store water for sustainable operation of our coffee washing station,” he added.

The National Agricultural Exports Development Board (NAEB) plans to have 80 per cent of coffee produced in the country go through washing stations by 2018 by increasing the number of stations and building capacities of farmers.

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