In 2008, 30 Rwandan women coffee farmers created a cooperative so they could work together more effectively to find a market for their coffee. They named the cooperative Abateraninkunga, referring to the concept of “mutual assistance” or support. Today it’s called Abateraninkunga ba sholi, and has more than 300 members, both men and women. “Sholi” has been Fairtrade certified since 2015.

The farmers and Sholi cooperative have been instrumental in the development of their community in central Rwanda. They have invested Fairtrade Premium funds in everything from medical equipment in their local clinic, to rebuilding a bridge, to buying cows for members as a source of milk and manure for fertiliser, to setting up bee-keeping that provides members with additional income from honey sales. 

On the business side, coop members decided to build a cupping laboratory to test and sample their coffee, and a nursery to grow seedlings for members. They also bought a special structure known as a parabolic greenhouse solar dryer, so they can safely dry their coffee after harvest even when it rains. This is increasingly important as the climate is changing and rains are less predictable.

“Ever since we started working with Fairtrade, there are a lot of great things we have achieved, be it accessing the global market, [or] understanding deeply the conservation of quality coffee,” says Sholi’s Managing Director Aimable Nshimiye. 

And in fact Sholi farmers’ coffee quality has been recognised through awards by the Rwandan Coffee Association as well as Fairtrade’s own Golden Cup competitions, where Sholi won in both 2020 and 2021.

When sponsors and buyers come to visit, “they can see we are well aware and educated in the business,” says Mr. Nshimiye. With the challenges facing smallholder coffee farmers today, strong cooperatives like Sholi demonstrate a pathway to the future of sustainable coffee.