Meet Nyirankikundabo - a Female Rawandan Coffee Grower

At St Remio, we want to encourage people to think about where their coffee comes from, and the impact that their purchase has on the lives of female coffee farmers at origin. To really understand coffee, we must understand the role we play within it, because our choices can either perpetuate the cycle of poverty or break it.

In our most recent farmer interview, we spoke to a female Rwandan Coffee grower, Nyirankikundabose Xaverinne to learn about her story and role as coffee grower.

Tell me about yourself. Do you have children? Are you married? What do you enjoy doing?

My name is Nyirankikundabose Xaverinne, I am 73 years old and Rwandan. I married my husband in 1973 and together we have 6 children. I like growing different Rwandan crops including industrial and cash crops, I’m a cultivator woman and love that.

My husband is a coffee farmer and loves it so when we got married, I decided I would do it as well. There are different challenges we face depending on the yearly climate conditions, we must deal with pests and sometimes disease as well. I do many different maintenance activities like weeding, pruning, fertilization, mulching and post harvesting. During the harvesting period I help to maintain the good and high quantity of coffee production by harvesting well ripened coffee cherries, producing them at the washing station on time.

What would you like to see change about the coffee industry?

Some of the change I think could be done by industries are to show finished coffee to farmers, so they can learn about coffee expansion and rejuvenation which will help improve our skills.

What is it like to be part of Cocagi femme and how do you support each other?

I appreciate St Remio for supporting women’s coffee farming and especially Cocgai Femme. I am enjoying being a part of the cooperative as it provides benefits like health insurance. They have also helped me learn more about modern coffee plantation, increasing coffee production and allowed me to gain more skills in all the technical maintenance activities that are required.

What makes Rwanda so special?

I invite everyone to visit Rwanda, it is a beautiful country with good government policies, security and a lot of development has been made in farming, trading, well being and education especially education for woman and children.

Anything else you would like to say?

I would like to say to all the women of the world to keep setting goals and pushing yourself to achieve them.

 I love you guys !!!!            

By purchasing St Remio Coffee, you are choosing to empower future female coffee farmers like Claire. That’s the impact of your cup of coffee.

Make the change today!