RAEK and TSU have been in cooperation for the last 7 years. 2022 was the first year that farmers actually received a bonus/second payment for their harvest. Currently the biggest impact of RAEK is to provide employment opportunities for farmers in Katana and Kavumu region. Although there is a long way to go regarding higher incomes and more comfortable lifestyle, RAEK is determined in it's vision. To create economic stability for all it's farmers is the biggest impact in their regard. They have been paying off debts and focusing on building capacity through infrastructure, marketing and client relationships for selling higher volumes of coffee in the coming years.

DÉSIRÉ ZAGABE

“ Impact is achieving economic stability as a cooperative and individually. One of the few ways they can determine is this to become debt free, build better housing, pay school fees and rear cattle.”

  • Achievements so far: They have earned a higher price of a kg of cherry, it went from 0.29USD to 0.50 USD an increase of 42%. They acquired a fund to build 2 MicroStation through FBK project. Farmers received a second bonus payment for the first time in 2022. They managed to clear the debt of 25000 USD from Oxfam in 2021.

    2023 update: Through the FBK fund, they have started the work towards finding and measuring the land to build this MicroStation. This work is happening in close cooperation with This Side Up.

    What the future holds: RAEK has an ambition of selling 4 containers per harvest season from 2028 onwards. Although they don't have the funds or the infrastructure for that yet, they are taking measures to get there. By building the MicroStation as part of the FBK project, they can increase the production capacity as they would own the infrastructure, the costs to use wet mill will reduce significantly. They also want to work with more farmers to increase exporting volumes. They want to market their coffees by contacting old and new customers, sending them samples to cup and are actively working on improving their presence in the global market.

FOR THE FARMER COMMUNITY IN DRC

CREATING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

DEBT REDUCTION FOR FARMERS

  • Achievements so far : They managed to clear the debt of 25000 USD from Oxfam in 2021.

    What the future holds: Investing in better marketing strategies to create more awareness about the coffees at RAEK. Increased volumes directly implies higher income and eventually lower debts, child labor and improved living conditions in the community.

REGENERATION OF TREES

  • Achievements so far : Investing and disbursing new coffee samplings through their nursery. They have been distributing new coffee saplings to farmers to plant. Along with that farmers also intercrop it with peanuts, soy among others. They had been distributing coffee saplings from the nursery every year up until 2019 and then couldn't continue due to COVID. Now, they are focused on starting this back up for the farmers who can already start regenerating.

    2023 Updates : The number of youth have increased from 8 to 34. They have also made a plan to start giving out coffee saplings to farmers who can already start regenerating their plots

    What does the future hold : With a focus on regeneration of the coffee trees, they will also be able to increase volumes in the consequent harvest years.

PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY AND COMBATING

POACHING THROUGH COFFEE PRODUCTION

  • Achievements so far : To protect the ecosystem, i.e. the biocenosis and biotope, means to protect the animals in the park, such as monkeys, gorillas and antelopes, thanks to the trees they distributed across the park. These trees help to provide firewood, which in turn helps to reduce poaching in the park and safeguard biodiversity.

    What does the future hold : To continue engaging the local community in coffee production activities, empowering them economically which further reduces members from hunting / poaching animals. To produce coffee in an agroforestry rich ecosystem that will protect the biodiversity and help the landscape flourish