FEATURED: Let’s Talk Coffee Rwanda to bring women coffee producers closer to buyers

The countdown to the much-awaited coffee event has begun.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Sustainable Growers Rwanda (SG-R) is proud to announce the return of Let’s Talk Coffee Rwanda taking place June 17 -19 at the Serena Hotel in Kigali. LTC Rwanda is the go-to biennial event in Africa for coffee professionals and aficionados looking to connect with key stakeholders in the value chain.

Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers, the event is bringing buyers to the farmers to ensure access to international markets.  It will feature coffees and delegates from cooperatives trained by Sustainable Growers Rwanda, representing over 32,000 women coffee farmers from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Let’s Talk Coffee Rwanda will also present workshops highlighting specific issues in the coffee industry including climate change, access to finance, domestic consumption, multi-crop farming, data collection, quality improvement, and farming as a family business. During the event, actors across the coffee sector will convene to coordinate strategies that address challenges farming families are currently facing.

"LTC is an important event for us. It provides an opportunity for farmers and cooperatives to communicate and interact directly with local and international buyers as well as other actors such as government officials and nonprofits that support coffee farming. This market access piece of our program helps farmers to understand their competitive advantages for becoming better business managers on the farm,”stated by Christine Condo, Regional Director, Sustainable Growers.

Sustainable Growers Rwanda is a local nonprofit that aligns with government initiatives to improve productivity, quality, and build market access for the coffee sector. The highly effective training, trade, and public-private partnership model promote the economic inclusion of women farmers and their families. Since 2014, Sustainable Growers Rwanda has worked in 13 districts and supported 77 cooperatives, 25 coffee washing stations, and 32,233 farming families.

Ruth Coleman, Executive Director of Sustainable Growers global headquarters, shares, "We are thrilled to partner with Sustainable Harvest and Bloomberg Philanthropies to bring farmers together with coffee professionals and learn together.” 

To register, visit http://www.letstalkcoffee.org/