RWANDA
Rwanda’s coffee industry is teaming with a Japanese agency on a three-year project designed to enhance Rwanda’s coffee value chain.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency joined with Rwanda’s National Agricultural Export Board on the project, called Coffee Upgrade and Promotion in Rwanda (CUP Rwanda), according to The New Times. The project aims to strengthen the value chain and create a strong network within the country’s industry based on relationships and trust.
The initiative, led by coffee expert Yoshiaki “Jose” Kawashima, will send Japanese trainers into the field to work with local stakeholders and help build skills to improve coffee production and marketing.
“We want to put in place robust and effective structures that will help us to coordinate farmers through cooperatives to help increase both the yields and quality along the value chain of supply,” Dr. Celestin Gatarayiha, head of the National Agricultural Export Board’s coffee division, told The New Times.