The Musasa Dukunde Kawa cooperative has four washing stations lying high in Rwanda’s rugged
northwest. Nkara – the cooperative’s third washing station - was built by the co-op in 2007 with profits
earned from their first two washing stations, Ruli & Mblima and a bank loan. The washing station lies at
1,800 metres above sea level and serves farmers within the Ruli Sector of Rwanda’s Northern Province.
Much of the success of Musasa Dukunde Kawa can be attributed to the transformational PEARL
programme of which it was a part. The project switched the focus in the Rwandan coffee sector from an
historic emphasis on quantity to one of quality, thus opening Rwanda up to the much more highly valued
specialty coffee market. The programme and its successor, SPREAD, have been invaluable in helping
Rwanda’s small-scale coffee farmers to rebuild their production in the wake of the devastating 1994
genocide and the 1990s world coffee crash.
Most of the small-scale producers with whom Musasa Dukunde Kawa works own less than a quarter of a
hectare of land, where they cultivate an average of only 250 - 300 coffee trees each as well as other
subsistence food crops such as maize and beans. The cooperative gives these small farmers the chance to
combine their harvests and process cherries centrally. Before the proliferation of washing stations such as
Nkara, the norm in Rwanda was for small farmers to sell semi-processed cherries on to a middleman, and
the market was dominated by a single exporter. This commodity-focused system - coupled with declining
world prices in the 1990s - brought severe hardship to farmers, some of whom abandoned coffee entirely.
Today, it’s a different picture. Farmers who work with Musasa Dukunde Kawa have seen their income at
least double, and the co-op produces some outstanding lots for the specialty market year after year.
‘Musasa’ means ‘a place to make a bed’ and ‘Dukunde Kawa’ means ‘let’s love coffee’ in Kinyarwanda -
a reference to the power of coffee to improve the lives of those in rural communities.
Musasa Dukunde Kawa now owns four washing stations and is one of Rwanda’s larger cooperatives, with
1,193 members. The Mbilima station is located in the rugged hills of Mbilima and Matovu, one of the
collection sites for the cooperative, working with 688 producers. Each farm, although small in size,
maintains efficiency thanks to skill and the presence of shade trees. They include species such as
Maesopsis eminii (Umbrella Tree), Calliandra, Leucaena, Polycias sp, and Grevillea, amongst others.
This specific lot was delivered by 130 smallholder producers during peak season of the harvest and
underwent an Anaerobic Natural process. Cherries are hand-picked only when fully ripe and delivered to
the wet mill to be sorted. The cherries are then placed in sealed tanks for 100 hours to undergo an
anaerobic fermentation.
After fermentation, the coffee is dispersed on raised beds for roughly 45 days or until the moisture content
reaches 11%. The coffee is then stored in parchment in Nkara’s purpose-built warehouse prior to final drymilling and hand-sorting at the Cooperative’s brand-new dry mill in Kigali. Each coffee that arrives is also
cupped by Musasa’s team of expert cuppers along with the Q-graders of their exporting partner,
Rwashocco.
Lots are usually separated out by days. Upon delivery as cherry, the coffee receives a paper ‘ticket’ that
follows the lot through all its processing. This ticket bears the date of harvest and the grade (A1, A2 etc) of
the coffee – for instance, if a coffee lot is called ‘Lot 1- 06/04 - A1’, this means it was the first lot processed
on April 4 and the grade is A1. This simple but effective practice is a crucial tool in controlling quality and
ensuring the traceability of lots.
In addition to the great work that the cooperative does with quality improvement and assurance, they
also have various social programs that greatly contribute to the livelihoods of their members. School fees
and medical insurance are provided along with training in quality and productivity in cultivation of coffee.
The cooperative also gives cows as bonus payment for quality cherry. These cows not only produce milk
for cheese, which helps improve diets and provides supplementary income for farmers, they also provide
fertiliser for coffee! The cooperative has also invested in a fleet of tailor-made bikes that help smallholders
deliver their cherry to the cooperative's washing stations. This not only reduces the labour required for
producers but also means that it is easier to deliver cherry on the same day as picking, which helps ensure
greater quality.
Mercanta has been buying from Musasa Dukunde Kawa since 2007 - and we hope this relationship will
continue for many years to come.
