EASTERN PROVINCE RWAMAGANA — Officials of Rwanda’s Coffee Authority (OCIR-CAFÉ) have urged local leaders to increase coffee production in order to fully exploit the available international market. “We have been explaining to the local leaders about the importance of coffee in the development of the nation because Rwanda’s coffee is ranked number two in foreign exchange earnings in the country,” Pontien Munyankera. OCIR-CAFÉ’s official in charge of planning and research, told The New Times shortly after meeting area local leaders at AVEGA center on Wednesday. He said OCIR CAFÉ is committed to ensuring the production of high quality coffee. “We therefore appeal to local leaders to organise coffee farmers in cooperatives and to produce coffee in plenty,” he said. Clavier Gatwaza, another official in charge of production and development presented the current coffee situation in the country projecting increase in quantity and quality by 2011, owing to the number of coffee trees planted. He disclosed that there are 8 million coffee trees planted countrywide on 33, 000hecatres of land. He observed that because of vagaries of nature, production has often been unpredictable. According to Gatwaza, there are 154,349,863 coffee trees in the Eastern Province planted on 6,174hectare of land. He said the Province managed to export only 751 tons of green coffee last year. “Rwanda’s coffee is second to none on the world market. Rwandans therefore ought to exploit this opportunity and produce more coffee in order to get more foreign exchange out of it,” Gatwaza said. He asked participants to adopt the use of organic and inorganic manures and the spraying of coffee in order to increase its yields. He also urged them on establishment of coffee washing stations in order to add value to their produce. The officials asked district leaders to consider signing a memorandum of understanding with OCIR-CAFÉ in order to streamline the production and export of coffee grown in the area. OCIR-CAFÉ is an agency of the Rwandan Ministry of Commerce. Among its other responsibilities, OCIR is directly charged with developing the specialty coffee sector in Rwanda with a vision of playing a central role in supporting and regulating the Rwandan coffee industry through its transformation to a specialty grade producer. Ends
