2.3.4.2 Contribution of
coffee to reduction of unemployment
As of 2006, 4,000 jobs had been created at
coffee-washingstations (USAID publication 2006). Though many of theseare
part-time jobs during the harvest season, others arefull-time positions
managing stations and cooperatives.Co-op and washing-station employees are
learning valuablebusiness skills: accounting, marketing, and negotiating.An
estimated 100 Rwandans have learned to cup coffee 12at milling operations and
at exporters, other Rwandans sortbeans, operate milling equipment, and prepare
beans forshipment. And as the new coffee culture grows in Rwanda,jobs are
starting to be created in retail outlets such as thepopular Bourbon Café
in Kigali.
Although Rwanda has made good progress in the specialtycoffee
sector, stakeholdersrecognize that more mustbe done to consolidate these gains
and to direct attentionto the most pressing problems in the sector. To
refocusattention, the Rwandan government issued a revisedNational Coffee
Strategy (NCSR) in 2009. The NCSR createda modified strategy for the coffee
sector; one thatbuilds on lessons learned implementing the 2002 strategy.It
sets a new, lower production target of 33,000 tons ofcoffee by 2012, 19,000
tons of which is to be fully washed.The government anticipates revenues of $115
million ifthis much coffee is produced (Rwanda Ministry of Agricultureand
Animal Husbandry and Ministry of Trade andIndustry 2008).The new policy
identifies five target projects: improvingfarming techniques, providing support
to make washing (MINAGRI 2008)
The new policy identifies five target projects improving
forming techniques providing support to make washing stations more profitable,
helping private exporters improvemarketing and sales, conducting a census of
all coffee-growingareas, and partnering to do toll roasting in China and
theMiddle East.13 In an effort to add more value locally, theRwanda Coffee
Development Authority (RCDA) has partneredwith the Hunter Foundation to build a
factory to roastand package coffee locally. The hope is that this effort
willproduce more than 100 full-time jobs and another 2,000indirect jobs.14
While coffee production cannot, by itself,solve the many problems faced by the
poor in Rwanda,changes in the industry are helping coffee farmers and
otherworkers in the industry better cope with poverty, and thesechanges also
seem to be generating positive social benefits.
The coffee from its cultivation necessarily need workers `,
its harvest need workers, its transportation provide labour, its
commercialization provide also labour, the washing station need workers. All
these above process provide employment from it, socio conditions are improved;
and then great part of society gain good conditions of live from coffee.
2.3.4.3 Contribution of
coffee to national incomes
The Rwandan exports remained dominated by traditional export
products (coffee, tea and minerals) representing 60.2% of the total export
earnings in 2010. Tea exports have continued to perform better in both value
and volume increasing by 15.2% and 15.5% respectively, resulting mainly from
stable international prices.Coffee exports also performed better than 2009
increasing highly by 50.4% in value and by 21.6% in volume as a result of
improvement in domestic production and high international prices. Driven by
overall upward trend of prices on international markets for minerals, the
Rwanda mining exports value increased by 22.4% despite a decline in volume by
10.3% in 2010 compared to 2009. The increase in prices is mostly attributed to
tin whose prices rose by 62.3% from an average of USD 6.69/kg in 2009 to
10.86/kg in 2010.
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