The Rwandan Coffee Sector: out of the Ordinary

This paper studies the transformation of the Rwandan coffee sector from a supplier of ordinary coffee to a player on the market for specialty coffee. While this transformation is widely perceived as a success story, we show that it is far from complete. Although coffee washing stations have multiplied at an impressive rate, many stations are dysfunctional and only a small portion of the fully washed coffee qualifies as specialty coffee. We argue that the quality gap can only be closed through a sustained effort in improving coffee washing station management and providing farmers with positive incentives to improve coffee farm practices.