Maraba Cooperative

In the local Kinyarwanda language, ‘Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa’ means ‘Together we work the coffee’. The name is fitting, as the cooperative has played a key role in the rebuilding of Rwanda’s coffee industry.

Established in 2001, Abahuzamugambi Ba Kawa Maraba Cooperative (or ‘Maraba’) was the first coffee cooperative to be established in the wake of the devastating 1994 genocide. It was formed with the purpose of increasing the viability of Rwanda’s coffee industry, by ensuring that members received a higher revenue for their coffee by selling coffee directly to exporters in Kigali, rather than through an intermediary agent. As it has grown and evolved, it has become a symbol of hope and progress in the coffee community, and has inspired the formation of many other specialty-focused cooperatives and coffee companies. 

Maraba’s impact on Rwanda’s coffee industry is undeniable. In 2001, they were the country’s first cooperative to build a washing station, Cyarumbo. Set up as a model operation, every stage of production was considered and established in the best possible way. Despite being established in Maraba – which at the time was considered one of the poorest sectors in Rwanda – the model program was incredibly successful. Now, the cooperative owns and operates four washing stations in the Southern Province’s Huye and Nyamagabe districts: Kibingo, Kabuye, Cyarumbo and Sovu. These centralised washing stations allow farmer members to process and dry their coffee with meticulous care and attention, and to fulfil the potential for quality of the coffees that they grow.

The cooperative is currently led by President Lambert Mbayire and General Manager Theophile Biziyaremye. The dry mill and central offices are located in the Maraba Sector of the Southern Province’s district of Huye. Built in 2006, the dry mill was resourced and supported by the USAID-funded Partnership for Enhancing Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL) – much like Dukunde Kawa in 2000. Owning and operating a dry mill has been key in Maraba’s longevity: it has given members greater control over the quality of the coffee processed and has helped create jobs among the local community of the Huye District. 

Since its formation, the cooperative has grown to encompass various communities of coffee growers in Rwanda’s Southern Province. Initially founded by just 20 growers, Maraba has grown to 1,508 members. Typically, members work on very small farms – averaging just a fifth of a hectare – and are situated around 1,700 meters above sea level. Maraba currently works with 37 different farmer groups, 23 women-only groups and an additional 12 youth groups. Farmer and women-only groups have become very common and successful within Rwandan washing stations, as it allows members to process and market their coffees as a smaller, more selected lot. In recent years, more cooperatives have invested in youth-focused groups, recognising that the future of the crop is at risk if its aging farming population do not transfer their knowledge and expertise to the next generation.

By being organised into smaller groups, Maraba have streamlined the way they communicate with their members. When important messaging from the cooperative leadership or team of agronomist needs to be transmitted, it is group leaders who receive direct communication from the co-op, and they in turn message their respective cluster members. In doing so, farmers hear directly from someone they personally know and trust within minutes of the original message being sent.

Members pay an initial fee of around 53,000 Rwandan francs (roughly $74AUD) to join the cooperative, followed by a smaller yearly fee that goes into a fund all members of Maraba benefit from. By becoming members, farmers are able to process their cherries centrally and combine their small, individual harvest into volumes that are large enough for export, boosting their earning potential considerably. Additionally, the cooperative also gives members a number of benefits, including financial support for school fees and health services, and access to a credit fund for home loans and farming equipment. Cooperative members also provide each other with invaluable support, by sharing resources and labour during the busy harvest period.

Because the cooperative is member-owned, all profits are divided between its members, or reinvested into shared infrastructure, resources and training. Maraba’s aim is to use the extra revenue to improve the yield and quality of their members’ coffee, which requires continued education and upgrading of equipment. The cooperative also provides members with access to organic pesticides at a discount and has recently begun making and distributing its own organic fertiliser. To encourage more sustainable farming practices, the cooperative regularly offers training for their members on ways to increase intercropping on their farms. Intercropping is key in making coffee-growing more viable, as it allows for edible crops and shade trees to be grown alongside coffee trees. Not only does this increase food security for farmers, but it also improves the quality of the coffee grown and the health of the soil.

In recent years, Maraba have also begun a micro-credit financing fund for its members. The facilities were established to benefit farmers looking to invest in income-generating opportunities outside of coffee. Access to loans in rural Rwanda are difficult to receive, as most major banking institutions lack a the context of how much a farmer can pay back in interest, locking thousands out of financial opportunities. Maraba’s credit fund is based on each individual farmer’s production capability — because the co-op has a clear picture of how many coffee trees a member owns, and how much money these can generate. This step is crucial in ensuring members don’t only have access to funds, but that they also are not taking on any unnecessary risk by requesting a loan that exceeds their ability to pay it back.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Investing in education is at the heart of Maraba Cooperative’s goal of promoting a viable coffee industry in Rwanda.  They have spent the last couple of years promoting organic practices among their farmer members, after trialing them among contributors to their Kibingo Washing Station. Through this experience, the co-op learned coffee trees can become more resilient in the long term, while operational costs at individual farms is minimised. Maraba has also begun investing in greenhouse drying facilities, starting at Sovu Washing Station. So far, the project has greatly benefited the quality and longevity of the coffees the cooperative produces, and we’re excited to see how they expand them to their other processing sites.