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As with our Tanzania project, The Rwanda initiative begins with the work of TechnoServe, the non-profit we most admire. Predicated on the idea that giving a hand up rather than a hand out creates self-sufficiency, TechnoServe teaches small-scale coffee farmers the business skills needed to add value and achieve better quality. They then link farmers directly to their potential market: i.e., a company like Peet’s, willing to pay high prices for deserving quality. There are many intermediate steps, such as helping farmers access commercial bank credit and designing the simple yet effective coffee washing stations that transform their quality to specialty grade. Yet the idea is basic: connect small-scale farmers with their potential market and thereby afford them a decent livelihood.
In 2008 we committed our support to this project by way of cup testing (taste evaluating) the first coffees the newly reorganised business groups (or cooperatives) produced. Nearly 200 samples were sent to us in the summer, most representing only a few kilos. With no promise that we would actually purchase any outturns, our commitment was to assist by advising what coffees could be called specialty or gourmet grade, what was acceptable but insufficient for Peet’s, what was commercial quality and what was outright defective. Specialty grade coffees provide the price premium that can help lift farmers out of poverty, thus enabling this quality step to meet both our goals and the farmers’ wishes.
Notwithstanding our wish to help farmers, we took the hard line on quality throughout these cuppings. We spent rigorous, disciplined hours tasting, and thereby cobbled together sufficient quantity to fill just half a shipping container in the first year.
Our mentor, Jim Reynolds, spent two weeks visiting the cooperatives in April 2008, working with the farmers to understand our devotion to quality and the need for them to be meticulous and attentive in order to win price premiums. For farmers who formerly fed their coffees into anonymous supply chains, this concept that their own work and care can change their lives is transformative and empowering.
We were gratified to learn from TechnoServe that the price we paid made an appreciable difference in the lives of these farmers. Rwanda offers an exemplary illustration of how keeping the quality bar high directly effects higher pricing. See some of our individual farmer stories and let them tell you in their own words how this principle proves to be true. We are honoured and grateful to be a part of this project – but also, we get to drink some terrific coffees….
For another perspective on our work in Africa, see Business Week’s article of May 4, 2009.
For another perspective on Rwanda’s coffee initiative more generally, watch this video on TechnoServe’s site.
Peet’s Rwanda Lake Kivu coffee is a special offering that is part of the Rwanda Initiative.
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