Akagera Ikizere Women's group Fully Washed

Our partner, Baho Coffee, began working with Akagera station in 2020. During this challenging time, women in Rwanda, particularly single mothers, faced numerous obstacles. As in many countries, women often struggle to achieve financial independence. Additionally, cultural norms and stigma frequently lead to social isolation, depression, and hopelessness. In response, Baho Coffee initiated a solidarity group for these women, who chose the name Izikere, meaning "Hope" in Kinyarwanda. Through this group, Baho Coffee is empowering women to become more resilient and to regain their place in society and their communities.

In their regular meetings, the women share their life experiences and success stories, learning from one another. In addition to the social acceptance challenges they face, they also confront poverty, as men are typically seen as the heads of households and primary breadwinners. To support these women, Baho Coffee has provided training on coffee growing, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), and coffee quality management.

Beyond training, Baho Coffee also offers annual health insurance and provides short-term loans for family development. Through Baho, Ikizere members receive good prices for their cherry and are able to market their coffee as women-produced, which adds value for growers and roasters alike. Members receive price premiums for their high-quality coffee and their women-produced status. Many of these women have significantly improved their living standards. Some have even purchased land to expand their coffee farms, while others have invested in small livestock, such as goats, pigs, chickens, and rabbits. Most importantly, the women now feel appreciated and empowered. Their progress serves as an inspiration to other women who wish to invest in themselves and transform their lives.

Farms around Akagera station range from heights of 1,500 to 1,900 meters above sea level. These high altitudes make the land particularly well suited for coffee cultivation. Most farms in the surrounding area cultivate coffee and/or tea, which also does best at high altitudes.

Farmers in Rwanda have small coffee plots, usually around 250 trees. Most coffee trees are intercropped with food crops like maize and potatoes. Despite their small size, for many, coffee remains the main cash crop and their biggest source of income throughout the year.

During the harvest season, cherry is selectively handpicked by farmers. At intake, staff sort cherry by hand and then float the cherry to check for density. The station accepts the cherry that passes both visual hand sorting and floating. Sorting work consumes over 70% of seasonal labor, but Rusatira knows it is worth it.

Accepted cherry is then pulped before being fermented in plastic barrels for 48 hours and then washed in clean water. All Baho stations employ their own extended grading system to separate beans into different qualities and sizes. At Baho Coffee stations, coffee is separated into grades A, B and C. Then, grade A is further separated into three grades and grade B into two separate grades, with C remaining a single grade. “It’s more work,” Rusatira says. “But it gives my coffee a chance to excel.” Rusatira believes that “coffee talks” and he likes to listen. Establishing additional grades allows him to interpret each individual bean’s ideal grouping and create more uniform and delectable lots.

After grading, parchment is spread on raised beds in the sun where, Rutasira says, the first 5 days are the most critical. Direct sunlight helps reduce the risk of mold or overfermentation during drying. Employees at all Baho stations are continuously sorting coffee as it dries on raised beds to ensure the coffee is clean. After the first 5 days, the parchment is moved to shade to complete Baho’s special, slow drying process. Parchment is sorted repeatedly throughout drying. In total, the parchment from Akagera station dries under careful scrutiny for up to 21 days.

Bourbon is a specialty coffee darling known for its excellent cup quality and good performance at high altitudes. The variety is susceptible to the major diseases, which can make it difficult to grow. Bourbon traces its heritage back to Yemen. French missionaries introduced Bourbon from Yemen to Bourbon Island (now known as La Reunion) in the early 1700s. Bourbon takes its name from the island where it prospered. Bourbon has had a huge effect on modern coffee varieties as one of the major ascensions for many varieties grown across the world. Today, Bourbon is available in both yellow and red varieties. 

Rusatira Emmanuel is the founder and owner of Baho Coffee. Rusatira established Baho Coffee in 2013 after a long career in coffee that began as a washing station manager and culminated in a position as head of a department, managing a number of stations. Today, Baho Coffee oversees four washing stations across Rwanda. With one station in each of the coffee producing provinces, Baho Coffee has access to a wide range of profiles and processing methods.  

In addition to providing a number of educational, financial and agricultural services to farmers, Baho Coffee also has several social programs that are geared towards helping farmers, especially marginalized groups like women, older farmers and youth.  

Rusatira, who was personally affected by the Rwandan genocide that took place in 1994, focuses on helping women because he understands firsthand that many families lost many male members during the genocide. As a consequence, Rusatira explains, many Rwandan families are headed by women. Single motherhood—whether caused by the genocide, lack of access to family planning or other circumstances—is often lonely and isolated. Rusatira’s intention is to bring typically isolated single mothers together and ease that isolation while also providing support and training to help them improve their circumstances. 

 Rusatira’s plan is to process and sell the coffee from women-led families separately. A key part of this plan is to include not only a wide range of information on the lives and conditions of the women in the group but also to include a letter, written by the women in the group, detailing how their station and their customers can help them overcome specific challenges in their lives.  

In addition to his program to help single mothers, Rusatira is also focusing on helping older farmers continue to feel relevant and to support young farmers in establishing and improving their farms. He is confident that Baho Coffee’s impact will continue to grow year after year. “As a small company we’re on a small scale,” he said. “But I keep extending.”