Pocket Change

During coffee harvest season farmers sell their cherry to a wet-mill which processes it to remove the pulp, mucilage and parchment; eventually leaving just the green bean inside. Using bicycles or baskets on top of their heads to transport the cherry to the mill, farmers are normally paid per kilo of cherry once it’s weighed at the mill. Unfortunately, the price given to farmers is extremely low; Rwandan farmers typically receive 120 Rwf (Rwandan francs) per kilo (about $0.21 cents). Considering that an average farmer only has about 100 trees (each tree only producing on average 5-6 kilos of cherry per year), the math is self explanatory: 100 trees x 6 kgs./tree = 600 kgs. and 600 x .21 cents = $126.00.


Rogers Family Company has committed to change this system. For most Rwandan farmers, coffee is their only income generating crop. They grow food crops such as corn, potatoes and beans, for subsistence but there is usually not enough to sell as well. The money they earn from coffee is used to buy clothing, medicine, pay for children’s school fees or any other need that may arise for the family. Since the cherry price is so low, often farmers process the coffee themselves at home and sell the parchment throughout the year in hopes of getting a better price. However, because it is processed at home, the quality is often questionable.


Rogers Family Company has been trying to increase the minimum payment farmers receive for their cherry at the wet-mill and encourage farmers to produce more fully-washed coffee. Over the last year and a half, we’ve worked closely with the Rwandan Coffee Authority, private exporters, cooperatives and wet-mills to ensure that the coffee we buy is beyond fair trade. If the wet-mills did not pay the farmer enough when he/she sold their cherry at harvest, we asked the wet-mills to make a second payment to the farmer later. At the minimum we asked they increase the price by 50 Rwf ($.08 cents) per kilo. In order to ensure the payments were actually being made, we helped organize and attended the farmer village meetings. Across the country we watched and witnessed as hundreds of coffee farmers lined up to receive a second payment for the cherry they sold to the wet-mill.
  
In Musha, I met Antoine, a farmer with approximately 7,000 trees who has been farming for more than 30 years. Before the wet-mill in his village was built, Antoine processed all of his coffee at home which took up all of his time. Now that he sells his cherry to the wet-mill, he spends less time processing the coffee and more time tending to the trees. He also earned more in 2009 than ever before; in this photo he just received a second payment of 276,000 Rwf ($485)!


At another meeting, I wandered over to a small store to buy a drink. While sipping my coke, a farmer walked in, slapped down 1,000 Rwf ($1.75) on the counter and walked away with a new pair of sandals. I asked him if this was part of the money he just received at the meeting. He nodded and proudly smiled for my camera.

 
The small amount of extra money farmers receive may seem insignificant to anyone else, but to a Rwandan farmer, it makes a big difference. What seems like pocket change to you or me meant a new pair of shoes to this farmer!