In Rwanda Coronavirus restrictions increase labor costs for coffee farmers

May 8, 2020

Yesterday The Conversation, an on-line newpaper targeting the academic community published an article on how the Coronavirus pandemic is affecting coffee the coffee supply chain in Rwanda. Two researchers we know at Michigan State University are the authors - Andrew Gerard and David L. Ortega. Click here to read! It is a short article and well written.

A key take-away from the article is that "health restrictions are increasing coffee production costs in Rwanda..."  At Artisan Coffee Imports we have also been investigating the impacts of Rwanda's Coronavirus policies on coffee farmers. Our informal research confirms that costs of production are going to be high for farmers this year due to the increased labor costs. Labor is known to be about 75% of all costs for coffee farmers in Rwanda, (click here for source), and harvesting labor is 36% of that total labor figure.

Click here to hop over to our "Resiliency Coffee Blog" and read a summary of 10 interviews with female farmers conducted April 22 - 27, 2020, which is right near peak of the coffee harvest season for Rutsiro district, where they are.