Rwanda
As reported in the New Times, much discussion during the 4th Rwanda Coffee Day celebrations in Gihombo Sector, Nyamasheke District focused on encouraging greater domestic consumption of Rwandan coffee. The event is part of a five-year plan to promote coffee quality and production.
Pie Ntwali, the communication officer for the National Agricultural Export Development Board, noted the irony of Rwandans drinking imported coffee instead of that grown in Rwanda. The price for one kilogram of brew-ready coffee is more than 30 times what a farmer can sell the same weight of coffee cherries for. That differential is the main reason consumption remains low—farmers cannot afford to buy their own coffee once it has been processed.
The NAEB reports about 1% of Rwandan-grown coffee gets consumed in-country though the organization aims to double that by 2017.
Learn more: www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2016-07-12/201594/