Better livelihoods for smallholder coffee farmers in Rwanda

After almost two years, the project "Job Partnership with Rwanda" is coming to an end. With the project, Naturland helped coffee growers in Rwanda address key challenges, including climate resilience, soil protection, sustainable food systems and income security.

As the "Job Partnership with Rwanda" project nears its conclusion, a final mentoring and coaching workshop was recently held in Rwanda. Conducted by Naturland, the workshop aimed to strengthen, empower and equip the established conversion teams with further knowledge. This will enable them to continue supporting farmers during the transition to agroforestry-based organic coffee production.

This workshop in Musanze district of Rwanda brought together the 28 members of the conversion teams of the partner cooperatives and companies. A key component of the mentoring workshop included a field visit to one of the partner cooperatives. The visit fostered a collaborative learning environment, allowing participants to share their experiences and challenges related to the implementation of agroforestry practices.

Earlier this year, Naturland also brought the project to the "Natural Products Expo West" and the "Specialty Coffee Expo 2025" trade fairs in the USA. This was a unique opportunity to introduce the agroforestry-based organic and fair trade coffee from Rwanda to potential partners and international stakeholders. 

Rwanda, “The Land of a Thousand Hills”, has significantly expanded its coffee production in recent years, establishing itself as one of Africa's leading coffee producers. According to the Rwandan National Agricultural Export Development Board, the coffee sector supports the livelihoods of over 400,000 smallholder farmers and plays a vital role in the country's export revenues. In the 2022/2023 financial year, Rwanda exported more than 20,000 tonnes of coffee, making it the country's third most important export product.

In response to the growing global demand for organic products and increasing awareness of the environmental and health impacts of conventional agriculture, Rwanda is actively promoting organic farming practices. This approach emphasizes sustainable farming methods, avoiding synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified organisms. Organic farming offers numerous environmental, health and economic benefits, including improved soil health, reduced chemical exposure for both farmers and consumers, and the potential for job creation and increased incomes through access to more lucrative markets.

Despite notable advancements, the transition to organic farming methods in Rwanda's coffee sector still faces significant challenges. To facilitate this transformation, Naturland has been implementing a two-year project, supported by the Special Initiative "Decent Work for a Just Transition" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. This project aimed to enhance the living conditions of Rwandan coffee farmers by optimizing organic farming practices, introducing agroforestry systems, and integrating fair trade principles in alignment with Naturland standards. Furthermore, the project sought to strengthen biodiversity in agriculture and climate resilience of cultivation practices.

The project has made significant strides in several key areas, including local capacity development, the establishment of organic agroforestry systems, job creation and improvement and preparation of partner cooperatives and companies for Naturland certification, as well as fair-trade facilitation. To date, we have successfully trained 3,699 farmers from seven partner coffee cooperatives and companies. These farmers received comprehensive manuals and participated in both theoretical and practical training that covered the entire conversion process to organic agroforestry systems, including essential procedures such as setting up composting facilities and enhancing tree nurseries.

Furthermore, our coffee partners were supplied with high quality composting additives and a total of 49,000 agroforestry tree seedlings to support their transition. To foster peer-to-peer learning, selected employees from the coffee partners visited Naturland certified coffee producer Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union (ACPCU) in Uganda, where they gained valuable insights into Naturland standards.

As a result of implementing organic agroforestry practices, three cooperatives are now prepared for Naturland certification, while two additional cooperatives demonstrate promising potential. The transition to organic agroforestry coffee systems has also led to the creation of over 150 new jobs across seven Rwandan coffee cooperatives and companies, alongside the improvement of more than 100 existing jobs within our partner cooperatives and companies. Through these efforts, Naturland is not only enhancing the sustainability of Rwandan agricultural practices but also contributes to the economic empowerment of local communities, paving the way for a more resilient and equitable coffee industry in Rwanda.