Passing through Nyungwe forest and past lots of cultivated eucalyptus we first met with Bernard Uwitije at Gitega Hills in Nyamagabe. He has been working with Rwanda Trading Company since 2016. In 2018 he established a new station in Kibumbwe called Bwenda, to serve the 850 contributing smallholders in this area. Typically, the farmers here grow coffee alongside cassava, sorghum, beans, potatoes and bananas. They have an average of 450 coffee trees, comprised of the more traditional strain of the Red Bourbon cultivar, known as Bourbon Mayaguez 139, alongside more recent introductions of RAB C15 and local variations called Jackson and Mibirizi. There are 15 collection points for the farmers to deliver harvested cherries to before they are collated and taken to the wet mill for batch processing. After hand sorting, floating and depulping with a Penagos eco-pulper, around 30% fruit mucilage is left on the coffee’s parchment layer. This is broken down during an 8 hour fermentation stage before being fully washed, soaked and ultimately sun-dried on raised beds for around 15 days.

Bernard grew up in Maraba, now an internationally famed coffee producing region. Understanding the challenges involved in coffee production there is an emphasis on supporting the contributing smallhold coffee farmers. Bernard is supporting his community by paying for a health insurance scheme and school fees for the producers’ children. They also host agricultural training seminars to improve yield and quality from the coffee trees, and operate a small demo farm where they offer GAP training (Good Agricultural Practices) as well as visiting the growers on their own smallhold farms and offering free organic compost comprised of broken down coffee pulp and animal manure. Every season they are donating coffee tree seedlings for the farmers to renovate and increase their coffee production and therefore their potential income.

The donation of seedlings primarily consists of the RAB C15 variety. We have been lucky enough to visit the research and development centre in Rubona where this variety is propagated, acting as a mother seed garden. It has been available since 2015 with a lineage of selections from an Indian coffee research centre, Caturra, Kent and Timor Hybrid. Whilst susceptible to nematodes it offers resistance against drought, coffee berry disease and coffee leaf rust, all the while offering a high-quality cup profile.