Nzahaha Natural Farmgate Initiative

Every bag purchased contributes to a Farmgate Initiative project. Learn more. 

Sitting on the edge of Nyungwe National Park in the valley of Bugarama, Nzahaha station processes cherry from approximately 1,200 farmers. The station was built in 2007 and lies nearly 300 kilometers southwest of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

The sandy loam soil on the farms surrounding the town of Bugarama provide ideal water drainage and nutrient conditions for growing coffee. Sandy loam is considered one of the ideal soils (alongside volcanic red earth) for growing coffee. Coffee trees require soil that drains well, as an overabundance of water during the rainy season can lead to shallow root development and an oxygen poor environment. Additionally, sandy loam and volcanic red earth tend to be relatively young soils and retain many of the elements that long-term agriculture typically depletes, including magnesium, calcium and potassium. The fertility of the soil provides additional nutrients to the coffee trees and their growing cherry, creating even more flavorful and well-developed seeds (beans).

All cherry is selectively handpicked and delivered to Nzahaha CWS. After cherry is accepted, station employees carefully visually hand sort and remove any defective or damaged cherry. After sorting, the cherry is laid on drying tables. Cherry is raked frequently to ensure even drying. It takes approximately 25 to 35 days for cherry to dry.

Once the cherry is dried, staff sort the dried cherry again to remove defects. In particular, they look for low density, unshaped or broken beans to ensure that only the highest quality dried cherry passes through the dry mill.

The station is certified Café Practices, 4C and UTZ and has the capacity to process up to 1,500 metric ton of cherry a year.

In concert with our sustainability partner, Kahawatu Foundation, RWACOF invests heavily in yield improvements, farmer training, quality improvement projects, environmental sustainability and other ways to increase farmer livelihoods.

RWACOF’s Farmer Development Program in partnership with the London School of Economics (LSE) supports farmers with training in Good Agricultural Practices and access to loans, farm inputs and farm services. A new soil health initiative uses soil analysis data that RWACOF collected to identify farms where soil is too acidic. Lime, along with education about application, is distributed to these farmers to help improve soil quality. Additionally, seedling nurseries provide up to 4 million seedlings per year to help farmers renovate their rootstock.

RWACOF also has many projects that are designed to support farmers’ overall livelihoods. They focus on gender equality and support several women’s cooperatives by helping them access land, seedlings and reach a market for their coffees. They offer trainings on financial literacy and alternative income-generating activities.

The Farmer Hub program built retail shops that buy other crops from farmers and sell them to families and schools at fair prices. These retail shops help promote income diversification by creating a market for other crops and they supply nutritious foods at competitive prices. The Farmer Hub program also offers loans to farmers as part of the farm management program.

On the environmental side, RWACOF has worked with partners to help install solar panels at 2 washing stations that are off the electrical grid. RWACOF’s dry mill already have a 50 kilowatt-per-hour solar panel set up on their roof. They’ve also mapped carbon emissions in their coffee supply chain and are starting projects to half their emissions per kg of coffee. Two ways they’re accomplishing this is by facilitating a transition from inorganic to organic fertilizer and further improve waste (water and pulp) management at the wet mills. They’re also working with Trade in Space to map deforestation in the supply chain so that they can begin to work with farmers to reduce deforestation and improve forested areas in the supply chain.

Above all, RWACOF's exceptional attention to detail during post-harvest activities ensures the best quality coffee possible. From the moment cherry enters the washing station until it is milled and bagged for export, RWACOF keeps stringent quality controls in place. They know, as we do, that high-quality coffee is crucial for delivering benefit all along the supply chain.