Coffee can transform Rwandan economy - Clinton

NYARUGENGE - Former US President Bill Clinton has said that coffee can transform the economy. He said this Friday evening while meeting a group of Rwandan coffee growers who, through the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative (CHDI), had their coffee branded and marketed in Europe and other parts of the world. CHDI is an initiative that was jointly founded by Clinton and Scottish billionaire philanthropist Tom Hunter. “Rwandan farmers grow great coffee and deserve all the credit…if they control their own production cycle here then they can fundamentally change the economic prospects of this country,” Clinton explained that the initiative strives to ensure that farmers get fair prices for their coffee. “Rwandan coffee is very highly regarded by professional coffee tasters and judges but typically farmers just sell their coffee, they could fetch much profit if the coffee was roasted and processed here,” the former US leader said at a function that took place at Kigali Serena Hotel. The initiative recently branded Rwandan coffee ‘Rwanda Farmers’ and has spread to at least 1,000 stores across the United Kingdom. It has been reported that former South African leader Nelson Mandela drunk this coffee at his 90th birthday celebrations in London last month. “The hope is that we would be able to get donors for more farmers and actually do the roasting and the processing operation; then profits would be greater and spread to more farmers and find more retail outlets like US, Africa and the Middle East and other high consumption countries,” Clinton said. According to Costazia Nyirandekwe, one of the farmers who met Clinton, branding their coffee has helped them overcome frustrations of middlemen who set their own prices. Rwanda is hosting the Cup of Excellence competition, the world’s biggest coffee quality competition, which is scheduled for August 29. According to Alex Kanyankole, the director general of the coffee marketing board, OCIR CAFÉ, the initiative is timely because the competition will further expose the country’s high quality coffee. “Rwanda is graded among the best quality coffee producers and we are going to use the cup of excellence competition as a platform to expose our product on the international market,” Kanyankole said in an interview briefly before Clinton’s meeting with the farmers. said that during the competition which will attract international coffee tasters from different continents, 107 cups from different farmers who have gone through the preliminary phase will be tasted. They will be first tasted by national jurors during the week beginning August 20. As per the arrangement, the best cuppers will be awarded with the Cup of Excellence award which will assist them marketing their coffee online. “The gains from having this competition here are enormous because they will spill to the Rwandan coffee farmer which in turn will have a significant impact on the country’s balance of trade and payment,” Kanyankole said. The Cup of Excellence competition took place for the first time in Bolivia in 1999 and has since then been held annually. Rwanda will be the first African state to host the competition. Ends