Upcountry Insight: Coffee changes life in Ngoma

Residents of Sakara Murama Sector in Ngoma District are reaping much benefits from coffee growing. Ephraim Ndegabaganizi, a coffee farmer, and president of a Coffee Growers Co-operative Society (IAKB) is one of the residents who has benefited from coffee growing. IAKB is one of the five coffee co-operative societies in the district. Since its inception in 1999, as an association with 321 members, it has grown to 1325 member, with 385 of them being women. Ndegabaganizi, says they formed a cooperative at a time when coffee farmers didn’t have proper market for their produce. Buyers wanted to get abnormal profits at the expense of farmers. “We felt it sensible to unite in a cooperative society in order to get a big market,” he says. “Organising ourselves in a cooperative society is aimed at distributing wealth among the majority.” In 2004, just two years before it became a cooperative society, IAKB with the help of the Smallholder Cash and Export Crops Development Project (PDCRE), acquired a bank loan of Rwf65 million from Rwanda Development Bank (BRD)- which they used to build a coffee washing station, offices, a store and three generators, since the area has no access to electricity. This helped them to improve the quality of their coffee beans. “There is no more cheating of farmers and they are now sure of the market for their harvested coffee,” Ndengabaganizi says. “We are paid cash anytime we bring our coffee,” says another member of the cooperative Judith Mukandera. A mother of three, Mukandera can smile with her husband and children after investing the proceeds from coffee in another family business. The family has injected Rwf600, 000 in a shop and also built a house. In 2007, IAKB exported 67 tonnes of coffee to Europe and the United States of America. According to Ndengabaganizi, they expect to export close to 500 tonnes of coffee this season. The cooperative employs over 100 workers five of them qualified. These include an accountant, a production manager and the director of agriculture. Many of the employees and IAKB members see poverty as history. “To say that we have put poverty behind us is not wrong,” says Alphonse Habumugisha, one of the pioneers of the cooperative society pioneers. “With abundant market for our coffee at a better price now, it has saved us from home burdens. Now our coffee cannot go bad since it can be transported to IAKB after harvesting,” he adds. A 42-year old father of four believes joining cooperative societies is a big step towards poverty eradication in the country. With his two tonnes of coffee harvested annually, Habumugisha has managed to build a permanent house and meet tuition fees for his children, two of whom are in secondary school. He earns Rwf300,000 every season from coffee alone. He has also bought a piece of land and two cows. “I hardly had anything when we started but I now can’t count myself among the poor like it was the case before,” he says. Like Habumugisha, Candide Mukashema, 25, sees IAKB as a dream come true. Mukashema, a Genocide survivor and an employee of IAKB since 2006, has managed to meet her basic necessities, as well as those of her only surviving sister with whom they survived in a family of eight. Her Rwf35,000 net monthly salary has helped her buy four goats and three pigs. She had dropped out of school in Senior Six, but she wants to resume studies come next year. Scores of the members have resorted to planting more coffee trees which they believe will help them achieve their targets. According to Ndengabaganizi, IAKB helps its member acquire loans, get fertilisers and training as a way to increase their production. It also aims at paying its members when they complete servicing their loan in 2011. The members say poor roads linking them to the main roads, lack of enough water to wash the coffee beans and a vehicle to collect coffee cherries from farmers are their most pressing challenges. This, according to Ndengabaganizi, has reduced on their export targets as some coffee goes bad. Coffee alongside bananas and rice are the specialised crops for the district. The district received 6,890,000 coffee trees and 181 tonnes of fertilisers [NPK 20.10.10] type from Ocir café this year, believed to be the highest amount compared to what other districts received. These coffee trees are given freely to the farmers most especially those united in cooperative societies. The district target is to become the leading producer of coffee in the country in three year’s time - in order to reduce dependence on donors who finance 51% of the district’s budget. Ends