PEARL--Café Extraordinaire

Photographs by BD Imports and Kelly Peltier

It is June of 2003 and U.S. coffee buyers are being escorted through the hills of Gikongoro, Rwanda, to see the first washing station of their tour. They are close to their destination when they hear a moped behind them. “That’s Epiphanie!” one of the buyers exclaims, as a woman in a long purple dress riding passenger smiles and waves before she speeds away.

When the buyers arrive at the washing station several minutes later, they are met by a group of Rwandan farmers. The buyers and their guides join up, and with the help of an interpreter, they are introduced to Epiphanie, owner of Bufcoffee. The tour of the washing station begins and, with it, Epiphanie’s story unfolds. Prior to the civil conflict in 1994, Epiphanie and her husband were involved in buying parchment coffee in the hills and selling it in the capital city. Her husband, a prominent Tutsi, was targeted by the Hutus, and he and one of their children were massacred during the genocide. In the devastating aftermath of the tragedy, Epiphanie decided to go back into the coffee business. Through her coffee sales, and with guidance from The Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda (PEARL), she was able to construct a wet mill in her district. Now, for the first time, the farmers around her have a place to process their coffee cherries in a way that allows them to meet specialty coffee standards. Epiphanie explains that by reaching out to these farmers, her faith has been restored. For her, the greatest reward has been knowing that in paying farmers fair wages, she contributes to bettering their lives. The sincerity of her words is reflected in the meticulous appearance of her operation and in the quality of the coffee that is produced there. In taking their leave of Epiphanie, coffee buyers offer their heartfelt praise and gratitude. But on the long journey back to Butare they express another sentiment: wonderment at this accomplishment. How did a coffee-growing region, which had never produced specialty-grade coffee, so successfully reinvent itself after the worst civil conflict of modern time? The answer begins with a sustainable vision, one that is still in the process of coming true.

A Troubled Past
Rwanda is a small land-locked, high-altitude country just two degrees south of the equator. It is Africa’s most overpopulated country, and 90 percent of the population work in some form of rural agriculture. Average land holdings in the rural area are less than one half acre per family. Historically, commercial coffee was the major cash earner in the rural areas, but the coffee sector was under strict control of the government. Though 100 percent arabica, more than 80 percent of which was bourbon, Rwanda coffee was sold as partially washed or café ordinaire.

In 1994, the country experienced a genocide that claimed as many as one million lives, including many of the country’s coffee farmers. In the years following the genocide, coffee prospects looked dim. Most of the farmers were genocide widows, many of whom had taken in children of parents who were killed. Many plantations were deserted and farmers began pulling up their coffee trees to plant bananas, beans and other food crops. On the world market, the decline of coffee prices had persisted, and in most places within the country, the costs of coffee production exceeded returns.

The Pearl Vision
In 2001, a plan to reconstruct Rwanda’s coffee industry was introduced by the USAID-funded project, PEARL. This project was aimed at helping coffee growers devise and implement a plan to increase quality management during the production and processing of Rwanda coffee.

The partnership was conceived and initiated by Dr. Dan Clay, director of the Institute of International Agriculture at Michigan State University, and Dr. Emile Rwamasirabo, rector of the National University of Rwanda. Dr. Timothy Schilling, an agronomist with significant experience leading USAID-funded initiatives, agreed to direct the project by developing a strategy to capture the interest of the specialty coffee market in America. His plan to improve coffee quality by focusing on rigid production and processing protocols for coffee was the centerpiece of this initiative. With the coffee sector liberalized, Rwanda’s new progressive president, Paul Kagame, encouraged development of privately and cooperatively owned coffee enterprises, and he heartily endorsed the PEARL plan. In order to reach their goal of offering exceptional quality coffee, PEARL laid out the key elements of the plan:

• organization of coffee grower associations into “smallholder” estate cooperatives.

• improved production and processing techniques

• creation of a system for “certification” of coffee farmers

• development of business plans to facilitate bank financing for co-ops

• institution of a management system prototype for application in each station to support strict quality control procedures.

The first step in making this vision a reality was the construction of quality wet mills or washing stations. All 10 PEARL-designed stations possess features that set them apart. In the words of Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia Coffee, “The first thing that struck me about the coffee situation in Rwanda was the level of organization at the wet mills. The fact that producers there now have well-maintained, well-designed washing stations available to clean their coffees puts them 20 steps ahead of growers I’ve visited in other parts of the world. I was particularly impressed with the cleanliness of the mills and the proficiency of the folks operating them. There are extensive checklists with quality control procedures that, if followed carefully, would place these mills among the best-run I’ve seen.” The sorting process is fundamental to the ultimate quality of the beans. With Rwanda’s abundant labor pool, Watts was quick to notice that “they are able to take the concept of hand-sorting to an amazing extreme.” At one mill he visited, cherries that were hand-sorted in the field, were then put through a “thorough hand-sorting on elevated screens before they went into a flotation tank for a quick density sort.” Floating cherries are defective; the beans from them can have a devastating effect in the cup. Conversely, a good cherry is fresh, red turgid and sinks in water. Watts went on to describe how cherries, “following fermentation are sorted in water channels before being put onto elevated screens for drying. Once the parchment coffee has been laid on the screens, it undergoes a third hand sort. After they have been dried, rested and de-hulled, the green beans are then sorted by hand again. Given this intensive level of processing, one would expect the coffee to be quite clean, and most of the samples I saw were just plain gorgeous.”

Before farmers can have their beans processed, however, they must first become a “certified member” of the cooperative. To do this, growers must:

• possess a minimum of 200 coffee trees of the bourbon variety

• adhere strictly to proper execution of mulching and tree pruning

• apply appropriate fertilizer, lime and manure in the fields

• pay a small membership fee to the cooperative

The goal is to create ultimate uniformity in production, picking and sorting practices among producers, thus allowing the concept of “small holder estate coffee” to be achieved. An additional key to maintaining ongoing quality control procedures was instituting a reliable management system. Here PEARL project personnel taught the unemployed sons and daughters of the growers. Ultimately, this plan was successful, and has accounted for order and efficiency at the washing stations, as well as in their financial management.

With technical and managerial upgrades in place, PEARL and ACDI/VOCA, another donor to the project, worked together to develop business plans for the coffee growers associations. This allowed co-ops to obtain required lines of credit from banking institutions, thereby securing their financing. Farmers soon discovered that by adhering to the tenets of total quality management, they were well positioned for success in the higher-priced specialty coffee markets.

Promising Roaster Response
Another goal of the PEARL project was to create relationships with a number of U.S. buyers. Sending samples to importers provided welcome opportunities to start dialogues with the U.S. specialty coffee community and to begin the relationship-building process. There was genuine interest among U.S. coffee buyers to explore the idea of “relationship coffee,” and samples were eagerly cupped for quality.

Positive feedback from respected roasters fueled enthusiasm for the sale of the coffee. Jim Cleaves, of Sara Lee Coffee & Tea, declared that “the coffees are not just very well prepared, but they exhibit quite a bit of individual character as well. One reminded me of a Sidamo with its flowery, acidic, lighter-bodied characteristics, while others are smokier and fuller-bodied. You can tell I’m impressed.” He finished by saying, “It’s pretty exciting to know these are the first coffees of this caliber to be produced in Rwanda.” Cupping opportunities and washing station tours were another part of creating relationships.

Importers and roasters, such as Intelligentsia’s Geoff Watts, Phyllis Johnson of BD Imports and Joan Katzeff of Thanksgiving Coffee, returned from their trip to Rwanda committed to promoting the coffee on the home front. After numerous cuppings from eight different washing stations, Johnson reported, “We are excited about being a part of this project and helping to make Rwanda and this project a success. As a specialty coffee importer my job will be to convince customers to find a place for a new origin. When I consider the quality of the product, the intense program to continue to improve quality, and the story of strength behind this product, my job should be a cakewalk.” By fall 2003, Doug Zell and Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia had successfully promoted the coffee to Whole Foods in Illinois. Johnson inspired interest among her roaster customers, and Thanksgiving Coffee made a significant purchase of Rwandan coffee.

Future Sustainability
At the forefront of all its activities, PEARL has kept its key objective: to take all measures necessary to ensure sustainability of farms and co-ops once the project is completed. This requires constant attention to the development of an organizational structure that will carry on successfully. For Schilling this means establishing a “front office.” He explains that as the number of co-ops grows in various districts of Rwanda, associations will form, and a critical mass of single-origin specialty coffee will generate the profits needed to finance such an office. Here, highly trained, experienced University of Rwanda graduates, currently working with PEARL, will be hired by associations to set up and manage offices. They will ultimately handle all the dialogue, marketing and exporting of coffee, thereby weaning co-ops from current donors.

With this final piece in place, the future of Rwanda coffee will rest in the capable hands of the Rwandan people who have worked so faithfully to create a new specialty coffee origin. As they continue to build their ravaged country, Rwandan farmers are optimistic. Their diligence at shepherding a fully washed arabica coffee from field to cup has yielded results. In Maraba, the first district where PEARL began, growers named their association ABAHUZAMUGAMBI BA KAWA meaning: “we will work together to achieve the desired result in coffee.” And indeed they have. Today, new roofs can be seen on houses, and many more children go to schoolcon average one child per coffee-growing family per year. Some growers have been able to purchase cows, a symbol of economic advancement. Having seen the initial fruits of their labors, coffee farmers are more committed than ever to building relationships that support continued improvements to a quality coffee. Experience has shown them already that higher prices are paid for higher-quality beans. This will be the lesson that sustains them, and the new East African origin they have created. So despite the struggles of the past, Rwandan coffee growers bear proud smiles of achievement. For PEARL, and the specialty coffee community looking on, we stand in tremendous awe of the triumph of their human spirit.

RWANDA FACTS
Capital: Kigali Population: 8,379,800
Languages: Kinyarwanda, French, English
Climate: Temperate with two rainy seasons: February-April, November-January
Agricultural Products: Roots and tubers, cereals, coffee, tea, tobacco and bananas Coffee
Farms: More than 500,000 coffee producers call Rwanda home. However, the average coffee farm is only 150 trees. In fact, people do not talk in terms of hectares, but in terms of numbers of trees or plants

Anne Ottaway is an independent marketing consultant retained by Michigan State University in connection with the PEARL project. For more information on the PEARL project, visit http://www.iia.msu.edu/pearl