Gitoki

This black honey lot, produced by smallholders delivering to Gitoki station, offers a sweet cup with a rich, heavy body and notes of tropical fruit and milk chocolate. The processing method highlights the coffee’s natural sweetness and the distinctive characteristics of the region.

Located in Gatsibo, Rwanda’s Eastern Province, Gitoki washing station is the newest addition to Baho Coffee’s operations. Historically known for banana cultivation (ibitoki in the local language), the area has undergone a significant agricultural transformation with the introduction of coffee farming. The station was established to be closer to farmers and has successfully converted banana groves into thriving coffee plantations, with banana plants now serving as shade trees for coffee crops. This innovative approach provides dual benefits to local farmers, allowing them to cultivate both food and cash crops.

Since its inception, Baho Coffee has been committed to supporting local farmers by distributing 2,500,000 free coffee seedlings and offering continuous agronomic support and monitoring. The young coffee trees in this region show great promise, producing high-quality cherry that contributes to the station’s impressive output.

“Farmers are motivated [to produce quality coffee] but their efforts are not well remunerated. Coffee prices are not meeting farmers’ expectations,” says Rusatira Emmanuel, Managing Director of Baho Coffee. This is why washing stations countrywide, including those owned by Baho Coffee, are striving to incentivize high quality coffee production with better prices and support for farmers seeking to improve the quality of their harvest.

In the early 2000s the Rwandan government, with the input of international partners, identified coffee as a potentially key generator of much needed export revenue. To improve the quality of coffee, the government has incentivized the creation of new washing stations in coffee producing areas and has partnered with local stakeholders to make sure that farmers are the main beneficiaries.

As one measure to this end, the government supports washing stations by providing inputs. The stations, in turn, transport the inputs from government warehouses to the area so farmers can access them more easily. The station is also involved in training farmers how to use inputs properly.

Cultivation

Production of coffee in the area is done by smallholders, with an average of 275 trees per farmer. Most labor is done by the family. Soils are clay and sandy soil and annual rainfall is about 1,290 millimeters.

The region’s fertile soil and favorable climate conditions have made it a promising area for coffee cultivation, contributing to Rwanda’s growing reputation for high-quality coffee.

Harvest & Post-Harvest

During the harvest season, cherry is selectively handpicked by farmers and their families. At intake, staff sort cherry by hand and then float the cherry to check for density. The station accepts only cherry that passes both visual hand sorting and floating. Sorting work consumes over 70% of seasonal labor, but Rusatira knows it is worth it.

After sorting and intake, cherry is placed in pulping machines to separate the outer husk. Then, coffee with almost all its mucilage intact is taken to drying beds where it’s dried for 30-35 days. During this process, workers remove damaged parchment and foreign matter and rake frequently to ensure even drying and a high-quality final product.

About Baho Coffee

Rusatira Emmanuel is the founder and owner of Baho Coffee. Rusatira established Baho Coffee in 2013 after a long career in coffee that began as a washing station manager and culminated in a position as head of a department, managing a number of stations. Today, Baho Coffee oversees four washing stations across Rwanda. With one station in each of the coffee producing provinces, Baho Coffee has access to a wide range of profiles and processing methods.

In addition to providing a number of educational, financial and agricultural services to farmers, Baho Coffee also has several social programs that are geared towards helping farmers, especially marginalized groups like women, older farmers and youth.

Rusatira, who was personally affected by the Rwandan genocide that took place in 1994, focuses on helping women because he understands firsthand that many families lost many male members during the genocide. As a consequence, Rusatira explains, many Rwandan families are headed by women. Single motherhood—whether caused by the genocide, lack of access to family planning or other circumstances—is often lonely and isolated. Rusatira’s intention is to bring typically isolated single mothers together and ease that isolation while also providing support and training to help them improve their circumstances.

Rusatira’s plan is to process and sell the coffee from women-led families separately. A key part of this plan is to include not only a wide range of information on the lives and conditions of the women in the group but also to include a letter, written by the women in the group, detailing how their station and their customers can help them overcome specific challenges in their lives.

In addition to his program to help single mothers, Rusatira is also focusing on helping older farmers continue to feel relevant and to support young farmers in establishing and improving their farms. He is confident that Baho Coffee’s impact will continue to grow year after year. “As a small company we’re on a small scale,” he said. “But I keep extending.”

50-50 Program

The “50-50” label is ROAST’s signature branded coffee that guarantees the farmers 50% of the retail price. The “50-50” label raises the bar for sustainability guaranteeing the farmers 50% of the retail price*.

* After sales taxes and duties. All costs in the origin country and transportation costs to the roastery (including taxes, duties, commissions etc.) are covered by the farmers. Smaller parts of the farmer payments may be given as donations to projects and organisations to help educate farmers etc.