LocationsRwanda Coffee: Preparing for a Changing Market
February 23, 2026
“The EU market is very important for Rwanda (…) 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.”
For Claudine Karere Kantegwa, Managing Director of Kivu Belt Coffee, this reflects a broader reality across Rwanda’s coffee sector. With more than 60% of exports destined for Europe and over 400,000 smallholder farmers depending on coffee for their livelihoods, evolving EU sustainability requirements are reshaping what it takes for the sector to remain competitive, resilient, and inclusive.
Coffee livelihoods in a changing landscape
Across the hills of Rwanda, coffee trees sustain livelihoods. For an estimated 400,000 smallholder farmers, coffee underpins daily life. 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.
For many farmers, these pressures are deeply personal. Ernest Nshimiyimana, Managing Director of DUKUNDEKAWA–Musasa Cooperative, knows this reality well. Coffee is not just a crop—it is security. In his own words: “To us, the farmers, coffee is a lifeline… It’s what we use for our daily life.”
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.”
“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.
Shifting market requirements
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, they also raise the bar 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 only about meeting new rules, but about transforming long-established practices across the value chain.
MAZIMPAKA Euprem and NYIRACUMI Gaudiose from Abakundakawa ba Maraba Cooperative
With more than 60% of Rwanda’s coffee exported to Europe, changes in the EU market carry significant implications. Maintaining access is critical for exporters, cooperatives, and the broader economy.
For Claudine Karere Kantegwa, Managing Director of Kivu Belt Coffee, this shift reflects both a national and sector-wide priority, requiring coordinated efforts at company and country level to prepare for evolving market expectations.
Farmers share the same concern. Euprem Mazimpaka and Gaudiose Nyiracumi, members of the Abakundakawa ba Maraba Cooperative, describe what is truly at stake:
“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 UNDP through the FIT for FAIR project, with support from GIZ and the Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains Initiative (SASI), the group brought together actors from across Rwanda’s coffee sector to share concerns, identify gaps and opportunities, and agree on practical ways forward. UNDP contributed expertise on collaboration and sustainable agricultural commodities to the EUDD Working Group, while also facilitating exchanges with other coffee-producing countries facing similar challenges. These efforts helped turn dialogue among stakeholders into coordinated action and solutions.
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. The Roadmap also leverages alignment with EU due diligence regulations as a tool for protecting Rwanda’s forests and supporting sustainable livelihoods.
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 and ensuring the protection of forests remains at the heart of the sector’s path ahead. In doing so, they are shaping a more coordinated, transparent, and resilient coffee sector for the future—offering lessons that UNDP can help carry forward to support other countries navigating similar shifts in global agricultural markets.
