Coffee policy review set for today

Coffee experts and government officials are today expected to meet in a conference on the Rwandan coffee sector to validate the new coffee policy. To improve the quality of coffee exports, government recently came up with Rwanda Coffee Development Policy which aims at reforming the coffee sector to formalise a long term strategy. Speaking to The New Times, yesterday, the head of coffee division at National Agricultural Export Development Board, Dr Célestin Gatarayiha, said the conference will chart ways to improve the policy. “We want to share experiences with those that have similar policies, validate our policy and at the end of the conference we should be able to improve it,” said Dr Gatarayiha. The draft coffee policy builds on the existing government policies and programmes, inputs from the coffee stakeholders and International Growth Centre researchers’ report. In view of the past engagement on the coffee policy, the Ministry of Agriculture asked IGC to stimulate discussion on the most important issues related to the coffee sector in Rwanda, and specifically around the new coffee policy. The one day conference is expected to draw participants from several government agencies as well as international experts from the east African community and Costa Rica. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Coffee policy review set for today