LocationsRwanda Coffee: Preparing for a Changing Market
February 23, 2026
“To us, the farmers, coffee is just a lifeline. It’s beyond the product. It’s what we use for our daily life.”
—Ernest Nshimiyimana, Managing Director, DUKUNDEKAWA–Musasa Cooperative.
Across the hills of Rwanda, coffee trees sustain livelihoods far beyond the farm. For an estimated 400,000 smallholder farmers, coffee underpins daily life, shaping the choices families make today and what they are able to plan for tomorrow.
For farmers like Ernest, coffee is not just a crop; it is security. It is the difference between stability and uncertainty, between investing in the future or struggling to keep pace with rising costs and changing conditions.
That reality is echoed by coffee producer Bernadette Nyiramisago.
“About 60% of my income comes from coffee”, she explains, “it is what allows us to pay school fees for our children, build houses, buy livestock, and pay for health insurance.”
Yet today, the foundations of Rwanda’s coffee sector are under growing pressure. Climate change, volatile global prices, aging trees, and low productivity make it harder for smallholders to maintain yields and incomes. At the same time, expectations from international markets are shifting — reshaping what it takes for Rwanda’s coffee to remain competitive.
“About 60% of my income comes from coffee. It is what allows us to pay school fees for our children, build houses, buy livestock, and pay for health insurance,” Bernadette Nyiramisago.
A Shifting Market Landscape
Over the last few years, the European Union (EU) has enacted a range of regulations aimed at reducing the risk that products entering its market contribute to environmental, social, or human rights concerns. Among these are the Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
Together, these regulations introduce new requirements related to traceability, geolocation, and human rights and environmental due diligence and risk management. While designed to promote sustainability and accountability, these regulations also raise the stakes for producing countries. In sectors like coffee—where production is dominated by smallholder farmers—meeting these new requirements can be particularly challenging. For the sector, this is not just about meeting new rules, but about shifting long-established practices.
MAZIMPAKA Euprem and NYIRACUMI Gaudiose from Abakundakawa ba Maraba Cooperative
More than 60% of Rwanda’s coffee is exported to Europe, which means that what happens in the EU market matters deeply for the country’s coffee sector. For exporters and cooperatives, losing access to the EU market would represent a major hurdle.
For Claudine Karere Kantegwa, Managing Director of Kivu Belt Coffee, the implications are clear.
“The EU market is very important for Rwanda,” she says. “For my company, and for the country, losing access would be a big challenge. That’s why we are working—at company level and at national level—to be prepared.”
Farmers share the same concern. Euprem Mazimpaka and Gaudiose Nyiracumi, members of the Abakundakawa ba Maraba Cooperative, tell us what is truly at risk:
“Most of our coffee is sold to the EU market. Losing it would mean losing the income we depend on.”
From Awareness to Action
Awareness of the new EU requirements is growing across Rwanda’s coffee sector. But turning that awareness into action remains a challenge.
Theophile Biziyaremye, Managing Director of the Abahuzamugambi ba Kawa Maraba Cooperative, exports more than half of his cooperative’s coffee to the EU. In response to the new regulations, the cooperative has invested in training farmers on good agricultural practices and environmental sustainability. These efforts reflect the broader changes now expected across the sector.
Even with these efforts, important gaps remain.
“The costs of data collection are high,” Theophile explains. “There are gaps in geolocation capacity, and many farmers lack access to digital tools and systems.”
Without a shared approach, farmers, cooperatives, and exporters alike could face growing difficulty in maintaining access to the EU market.
Coming Together as a Sector
In response to the challenges, greater collaboration is taking shape across Rwanda’s coffee sector.
Claudine, Ernest, and Theophile are part of the EU Due Diligence Working Group, which brings together farmers’ representatives, cooperatives, exporters, roasters, and national and local government institutions. The group focuses on what evolving EU due diligence and sustainability requirements mean for Rwanda’s coffee sector, while also using this moment to strengthen the sector and build more effective ways of working together.
Led by the Rwanda National Agriculture and Export Development Board (NAEB) and supported by the FIT for FAIR project the group provides a space for people across the coffee sector to share concerns, identify gaps and opportunities, and agree on practical ways forward. The FIT for FAIR project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the National Agriculture Export Development Board (NAEB) with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
Together, the members of the working group have developed a National Roadmap that sets out concrete steps to strengthen coordination across the value chain, maintain access to the European market, and tackle deeper, structural challenges that affect the sector’s competitiveness and resilience.
Members of the EUDD Working Group for the coffee sector
Beyond Compliance
The Roadmap focuses on six key areas: legality, traceability, smallholder integration, decent work and living wages, waste management, and the circular economy.
For many people across Rwanda’s coffee sector, this work goes beyond meeting EU requirements.
“Preparing for these changes is also an opportunity,” says Modeste Munezero, FIT for FAIR Project Coordinator and coordinator of the EUDD Working Group for the coffee sector. “By working together, the sector can address ongoing challenges and build a shared vision for the future.”
Rather than seeing this shift as an external burden, coffee leaders in Rwanda, from both government and the private sector, are choosing to use it as an opportunity to strengthen coordination, improve transparency, and support the long-term inclusion of smallholders in more sustainable supply chains.
Looking Ahead
With its EUDD policy recommendation Roadmap, Rwanda joins a growing number of coffee-producing countries taking proactive steps to adapt to changing global market expectations.
For Rwanda’s coffee sector, the goal is clear: to remain a trusted origin for sustainable, high-quality coffee, while ensuring that farmers like Ernest, Euprem, Gaudiese, and Bernadette can continue to rely on coffee as a source of livelihood.
Looking ahead, people across Rwanda’s coffee sector see this moment as a chance to guide how the sector evolves, while responding to changing expectations in key markets. In doing so, they are shaping a more coordinated, transparent, and resilient coffee sector for the future.
For more information on the work of the EUDD Working Group for the coffee sector, you can access the "Aligning Rwanda’s Coffee Sector with the EUDR and CSDDD: A Strategic Roadmap and Gaps and Opportunities Assessment" here.
