Gicumbi district is one of the four districts in the country that were identified to celebrate in the coffee day during the year 2014.

On the 23 August 2014, coffee day was held in Giti sector, Gicumbi district in the Northern Province. This event attracted all the coffee cooperatives in the area, coffee farmers, local leaders, security organs in the district as well as NAEB’s Staffs.

In order to have Rwandese take more cups of coffee instead of other beverages NAEB through PRICE Project organized an annual event called “Coffee day” as a campaign to sensitize farmers to drink coffee.  The Theme for this year is: “Ikawa y’u Rwanda inkingi mu Kwigira!” 

The event was kicked off by coffee farm demonstrations where the farmers were shown various aspects of agronomic practices that will help them attend to their coffee trees like pruning, panting of Themeda grass for mulching, fertilizer application etc.

In the line to sensitize the farmers to increase their production, NAEB also provides the farmers with free farming equipment, seedlings and field extension officers for technical advice.

A good example is Mr. Hakizimana Celestine a resident of Giti Sector in Gicumbi district who has been a coffee farmer for the last 30 years and has been earning100, 000 Rwf from his a half hectare farm but after the NAEB introduced a coffee demonstration farm program, he has managed to increase his yields from 2,000 coffee trees that fetches him 8,000,000 Rwf per season and this has changed his living.

Much as NAEB is putting more effort to increase the quality and the quantity of the Rwandan coffee, there is also a need to increase its local consumption. 

It’s in this regard, that after the farm demonstration, the farmers had the chance of sharing a cup of coffee with the leaders who had attended the event and each of them received coffee as take home package for home consumption.

This is a five year plan activity and this was the third time it was taking place.  A lot has been done be it production, quality as well as promotion of local consumption.

Normally, Farmers work hard on their farms to produce quality coffee but majority of them have never tasted their own produce.