Lot F167: Rwacof /Kanyege

Producer Story:

In order to reach Kanyege washing station, the last kilometer or so must be traveled on foot. The path is lined with plots of healthy Bourbon trees set on a hilly landscape. Between December and May the branches ofthe trees are weighed down with cherry that becomes redder and redder as the season goes on. Soon, those perfectly red cherries will be picked and delivered to Kanyege washing station. Cherry delivered to Kanyege comes from farms at altitudes between 1,800 and 2,100meters above sea level. RWACOF (Sucafi na in Rwanda) purchased the station in late 2017.
Kanyege washing station is part of RWACOF’s farm management project. The project trains casual workersin Good Agricultural Practices and connects them with farmers. Workers can help farmers with activities such as pruning, fertilzer and pesticide application, and harvesting. During the season, casual workers are paid by RWACOF. Then, when farmers deliver their cherry to Kanyege washing station or another RWACOF station, they repay RWACOF for the labor they received during the season.
Cherry is selectively handpicked by farmers anddelivered to Kanyege washing station. At intake, the station floats all cherry to remove any low-density cherry. Then, the high-density cherry is hand sorted to remove any visible defects. After intake, cherry is pulped using a disc pulper before being placed in fermentation tanks to dry ferment for 12 to 16 hours. Following fermentation, wet parchment is placed in thin layers on tables to sundry. Here, it is sifted regularly to ensure even drying. The parchment will be covered during the hottest times of the day and during periods of rain.
RWACOF's Farmer Development Program in partnershipwith 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 andreach 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 othercrops and they supply nutritious foods at competitive prices. The Farmer Hub program also offers loans tofarmers as part of the farm management program.
On the environmental side, RWACOF has worked with partners to help install solar panels at 2 washing stationsthat are off the electrical grid. RWACOF's dry mill already have a 50 kilowatt-per-hour solar panel set upon their roof. They’ve also mapped carbon emissions in their coffee supply chain and are starting projects to half heir emissions per kg of coffee. Two ways they're accomplishing this are by facilitating a transition frominorganic to organic fertilizer and further by improving 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.