The COOPAC Charter

COOPAC Membership:

  • To be a member, a farmer must buy two shares and provide his total production to the cooperative. In doing so, he must accept the quality control guidelines of the cooperative.
  • Each producer must own at least 1,000 coffee trees.

COOPAC Comprises:

Male and female farmers living in the six zones of the Gisenyi region in Rwanda who elect:
  • A General Assembly in each zone which meets four times a year
  • A Oversight Committee
  • A Management Service.

How does COOPAC benefit from its Fair Trade status?

Through long-term engagements with coffee buyers and through pre-financing, the cooperative and the farmers can more easily defend themselves against opportunists trying to take advantage of them. A common practice is for opportunists to propose their "services" when the farmers are experiencing difficulties, when they are planting crops, incurring unexpected expenses, their children are going back schol or are sick, etc. Interest rates, often as high as 200% force them to repay their debts in kind, often with coffee or other agricultural products, and things slowly the situation becomes more chronic, when they should only have ben repaying the amount they owed.

The COOPAC Committment:
  • To put the role of women in the forefront:
    In the region of Gisenyi, 10% of the coffee plantations are owned by women. Often old, they must support large families (between four and eight children each). Micro credit support, the creation of handicraft associations, the education of orphans or access to assistance all contribute to the recognition of their contribution.
  • To properly maintain the coffee farms and improve the quality of he coffeet: The rebirth of COOPAC gives the farmers the incentive to find ways to improve the quality of the coffee and the amount produced, because they can begin to see the fruits of their labors. To eradicate the serious problems of the past ten years, when only 60% of the land has been cultivated in this region.
  • To correspondingly increase government funding guarantees and distribute them more evenly, allowing the farmers to better respond to the needs of their families throughout the year.
  • To improve the environment: the coffee farmer plays an inportant role in soil conservation and the struggle against erosion. Proper maintenance significantly benefits the local environment.
The political impact: for many years state-run (before 1994, la Société Rwandex controlled 49 % of the national coffee market, with the rest owned by foreigners), coffee production has now been opened up to private Rwandan enterprises. The COOPAC example arouses the interest in the appropriate governmement depaqrtments to examine the needs and the potential of the Rwandan coffee market. These changes could ultimately benefit all the communities in the region and bring to the government's attention problems which must be solved urgently, such as the financing of highway improvements.

 

COOPAC Advantages

Offices with the most modern communication methods and equipment, such as computers, internet and fax).
A drying station installed in 2004 to take care of all the steps in the coffee processing until the time of export.

The washing station at Nyamwenda (the name of the river which supplies the water), situated on the shores of Lake Kivu.

Cooperative Pour La Promotion Des Activities-Cafe (COOPAC)
P.O. Box 186, Gisenyi, Rwanda
Telephone: +250 540 869 e-mail: contact@coopac.com