Farmers Rewarded, Linked With Exporters

Coffee farmers in Rwanda can expect more support from the National Agricultural Export Board (NAEB) and select foreign partners under the terms of a new initiative.

The NAEB is hoping to link farmers in Rwanda with coffee buyers from a wide variety of locations in a bid to increase profitability and reduce the influence of intermediaries.

As well as boosting income, the coffee board believes that the move will also help motivate farmers, increase production and promote quality at all stages of the value chain.

NAEB chief executive, George William Kayonga, spoke openly about the board’s new venture at a stakeholders’ meeting in the Karongi District last week.

“If the country is to double export revenues from our cash crops, [like coffee], we must increase output and improve produce quality going forward,” he said.

Over one-hundred individuals, many of them farmers, attended the meeting.

As well as talking about the project, he urged those in the audience to embrace modern farming methods in a bid to improve the sector’s productivity.

Caritas Mukandasira, the governor of the sprawling Western Province, supported the move.

In other news, thirteen farmers who participated in last year’s Rwanda Cup of Excellence event received certificates for their work.