Best coffee producers awarded

Gitesi Coffee Washing Station, located in Karongi District, emerged the overall winner among the best 26 farmers who produce high quality coffee in this year’s Coffee Cup of Excellence competition.The 4th Coffee Cup of Excellence awards were held yesterday in Gakenke District, Northern Province, in the presence of hundreds of coffee farmers and buyers, government officials, international and national coffee cuppers as well as area residents of the district.Gitesi garnered a top score of high quality coffee with 90.1 per cent which saw the company winning the prestigious Presidential award and the rest were awarded the Cup of Excellence award.Coffees with above 90 points are awarded with Presidential awards, while those that score 85 and 90 points are awarded the Cup of Excellence award.“I am delighted to have won this award. This shows how exceptional our coffee is. I am really motivated to increase my production from planting 8000 coffee trees to 40000,” said Alex Gahiza, Chairman of Gitesi Coffee Washing Station.Gahiza stated that through coffee production his livelihood has tremendously changed. He is able to acquire a loan from financial institutions with ease to inject in his company.This year’s contest started with a Pre-selection process whereby a total of 169 lots were received at the pre selection stage and 105 were selected by the national Jury to get 60 lots, out of them the best 26 were selected by national and international Jury.The International Jury was composed of a team of about 30 participants from Sweden, Norway, Japan, Taiwan, Belgium and USA.Speaking at the event, Alex Kanyankole, Director General of National Agricultural and Export Development Board (NAEB), said the annual competition enhances the production of quality coffee in the country.“The 26 best coffee lots will get a high price on the international market due to their fine quality and 60 percent of the income generated goes back to farmers. We encourage coffee producers to increase the quality of coffee they produce,” he said.Coffee auctioned on the internet in 2010 sold a record high of $51.94 per kilogramme compared to between US$4-5 per kilogramme for good quality standard coffee traded at major coffee shops.In 2007, the coffee sector generated $35 million and this year industry expects to generate $78 from the export of between 16,000 to 20,000 tonnes of the commodity.There are over 200 cooperatives and 2000 coffee washing stations engaged in coffee production and about 400,000 coffee farmers in the country.“Our target is to increase to 35,000 tonnes and to generate $157 million by 2017,” NAEB boss said.Since its inception the Cup of Excellence event has improved the competitive spirit among coffee farmers and coffee washing stations.The major benefit of the competition is the Cup of Excellence award label that is judged by professional cuppers as the best.Cherri Johns, Chief coffee cuppers judge, said the best coffees had the best and sweet flavours which enabled them to win the contest.“The coffees were clean and delicious with high quality. They were very attractive,” she noted.Ernest Ruzindaza, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, also called upon coffee farmers to increase on the quality of coffee in order to fetch high prices at the international market.Since 1999, the Cup of Excellence contest is held annually in many coffee producing countries, including Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Colombia.Rwanda is the only African country that has been hosting the event since 2008.