Rwanda's coffee production is expected to decline by 35 percent in 2007 following insufficient fertiliser use, the coffee board said on Wednesday. The country's coffee sector regulator, OCIRCAFE, sees production falling to 17,000 tonnes from 26,000 in 2006.
"A combination of cyclic conditions and continued poor husbandry practices will affect overall output this year by almost 35 percent," OCIRCAFE's head, Ephrem Niyosaba, told Reuters. Harvesting began in March and will run until the end of July.
Niyosaba said that despite higher international market prices, the lower volume would slash revenues by a similar margin. The central African producer received export proceeds of $50 million in 2006. Average prices for Rwanda's fully washed coffee currently stand at $3.5 per kg, while ordinary coffee sells for about $2.2 per kg.
To ensure an increase in output next year, OCIRCAFE has embarked on a campaign to promote fertiliser use. "At start of this year, we were only (meeting) 2 percent of fertiliser needs but we are redirecting our efforts to ensure that we provide 40 percent of the needs before the close of this year," Niyosaba said.
"We are going to get closer to farmers, use local leaders and make sure that more attention is paid to the crop. We need an output of 30,000 tonnes in 2008," he added.
Impoverished Rwanda, where an estimated 800,000 people died in the 1994 genocide, is targeting high revenues from coffee exports to cut back high poverty levels. Its specialty arabica beans are grown mostly by small-scale peasant farmers on high altitude volcanic soils.
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