Producer Profiles

Dukunde Kawa Cooperative

Founded in 2000, The Dukunde Kawa Cooperative (Musasa) cultivates its high-quality coffee near a mountain gorilla habitat in central Rwanda. By producing high-end coffee for the international market and employing a majority female workforce, the cooperative ensures maximum benefits to local families. In 2003, it built a washing station with funds provided by the Rwandan ministry of defense. In exchange for this support, the Dukunde Kawa cooperative donates 10 percent of its net profits annually to fund the construction of other washing stations throughout Rwanda.

Fair Trade Certified™ since 2004, Dukunde Kawa secures a high standard of living for Rwandan farmers by ensuring access to an economically and environmentally sustainable coffee industry. Eighty percent of Dukunde's producers are women.

In February 2005, the Coffee Review gave Dukunde Kawa's coffee a rating of 90 points and recommended their coffee to those "moved by the miracle of mountain gorillas, by the recovery of Rwanda, and by the miraculous pleasure of a delicately lush coffee like this one."
 

Quotable

“

My name is Nyirarubinga Consolee, born in 1961 and mother of six children. I produce 900-1,800 kg of cherries annually. Before my membership in the cooperative I put much effort in the preparation of ordinary coffee and sold it to local merchants for hardly anything. At the moment, this is not the case. Now when I harvest cherries I sell them at a good price to our cooperative. I am proud. Thanks to the good price that our cooperative gives me I now have three cows, rabbits and I can easily pay school tuition fees and health benefits for my family.  ”

Nyirarubinga Consolee
“

My name is Nyirarubinga Consolee, born in 1961 and mother of six children. I produce 900-1800 kg of cherries annually. Before my membership in the cooperative I put much effort in the preparation of ordinary coffee and sold it to local merchants for hardly anything. At the moment, this is not the case. Now when I harvest cherries I sell them at a good price to our cooperative. I am proud. Thanks to the good price that our cooperative gives me I now have three cows, rabbits and I can easily pay school tuition fees and health benefits for my family.  ”

Nyirarubinga Consolee
“

Membership in the cooperative completely changed my financial situation. Before the price was bad and unstable but the moment I sold my cherries for a good price through the cooperative I gained a lot without using as much effort as before. The coffee washing station in our cooperative helps efficiency. I am also a cattle farmer with sheeps and goats and I opened an account at the local bank. Everything is well in my family. I encourage my neighbors to come together and form cooperatives as it is a major factor in improving rural development here.  ”

Rubabagishi Agustin

Programs

New Trees, Sustainable Usage

Dukunde Kawa members started a tree rehabilitation program, allowing 30 farmers to bring an additional 3,000 trees into production in 2005. All members received new coffee trees. The cooperative plans on creating a water channeling system for the "honey water" left over after coffee processing.

Financing and Insurance

Each member has been able to buy a farm animal, and many now have health insurance for the first time.

Bicycles for Coffee Transport

Dukunde Kawa purchased 10 bicycles for each of Dukunde’s production zones, easing the transportation of coffee cherries to the central station.