2.3 Coffee in Rwanda
2.3.1 Production
Coffee has been grown in Rwanda since its introduction by
German Missionaries in 1904. The crop was mainly kept by the colonial
administration to respond to the need for coffee that they cherished but also
to support the economy of the country. Coffee growing was then made compulsory
and the number of coffee producers grew progressively and consequently, the
number of coffee trees and the plantation area considerably increased. The
National Coffee Board (OCIR) was created in 1945, with the mandate of fixing
the qualitative norms and classification systems, generating and diffusing
information pertaining to the coffee sector and establishing an environment of
cooperation between different stakeholders that are engaged in the coffee
sector. In 1998, coffee production occupied around 6.3 percent of the total
cultivated land (OCIR, 1998). Meanwhile as production increased, private
operators started setting up coffee processing factories.
Rwanda produces Arabica coffee of bourbon
and typicalspecies. In general, the coffeetree grows well and
gives a sufficient production in regions with altitude between1400 and 1900
meters, rainfall between 1500 and 1600 mm, temperature between 18°C and 22° C
and soils with acidity levels (pH) between 4.5 and 6, which are fertile,fragile
and quite permeable (MINAGRI, 2004). Even though coffee is interspersed inall
parts of the country, regions of suitability to its cultivation were identified
relativeto the above characteristics (OCIR 1998). For instance the shores of
Lake Kivu in the Western province of the country are suitable for coffee
growing with very goodproductivity. The rich volcanic soils, rainfall
distribution and clement yearlongtemperatures favour the slow maturation of the
coffee bean which is good for thecoffee taste. The productivity per hectare
varies between 1100 and 1600 kg of drycoffee.
In general, the central and southern areas are moderately
suitable for coffee growingwith the yield varying from 200 to 900 kg of dry
coffee per hectare. The highlandregion in the Northern Province is unsuitable
for coffee because of very lowtemperatures. The lowland region of the eastern
province is also not suitable forcoffee growing due to insufficient rainfall
and longer dry season; the soil fertility istoo low for the coffee crop (OCIR
1998, MINAGRI, 2004). Mulch, manure andsometimes chemical fertilizer are used
to maintain soil fertility. Coffee is harvestedbetween the months of March and
July (MINAGRI, 2004).
According to the research done by NAEB during 2011, Rwanda has
about 90 million coffee trees with over 400,000 coffee farmers operating on an
estimated area of about 35,000 hectares. The production recorded from 2008 is
represented in the following table below.
Table 1: Production of
coffee in Rwanda
|
Year
|
Production in tons
|
|
2008
|
21, 000
|
|
2009
|
16,000
|
|
2010
|
19,000
|
|
2011
|
16,371
|
Source: NAEB, Annual report 2011.
Chart 1: Production of coffee
in Rwanda
Source: NAEB, Annual report 2011.
The above table shows that the production of 2008 was
21000tons ,the production of coffee was decreased in 2009 until 16000 tons a
decrease was 5000 tons which is 23.8% ;in 2010 the production was increased up
to 19000tons an increase was 3000tons which is 18.7% ,where as in 2011 the
production has been 16371 tons here the production was decreased to 2629tons
then it was decrease of 13.29% this report shows that the production of coffee
is fluctuated; means that if the production was high in the previous year it
fall in the following year.
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