Story of change
Rosette's Story
- Rwanda
- March 3, 2025
After participating in Kahawatu Foundation trainings on GAP and entrepreneurship, Rosette is now supplementing her income from coffee with money from a local beer business and a cassava plantation, enabling her to better support her sons’ education.
Rosette is a 60-year-old single mother of 3 children and a lead farmer of Abishyizehamwe “Those who work together” Producer Organization at Nyamiyaga Coffee Washing Station (CWS) in Rwanda. She is one of the 2,027 farmers in Nyamiyaga
community, where 37% of farmers are female and 9% are youth farmers.
Throughout her time as a single mother, Rosette’s life has been full of ups and downs. On top of paying school fees and raising her 3 sons single-handedly, she also owns a coffee farm of 350 coffee trees. She harvests 600 kg of coffee cherry per year on average and generates income for her family.
“I have been a coffee farmer since 1984, but didn’t know much about Good Agricultural Practices – like proper application of inputs, pesticides and pruning – and how they can be beneficial when adopted properly until I joined Kahawatu and Rwacof training programs in 2020. I am proud to support my neighbors as part of Abashyizehamwe Group by sharing my learning, setting an example as a woman and exchanging ideas to improve our living conditions.”
Rosette explained that as a lead farmer, she has earned respect from her peers, and this helped her develop self-esteem and the confidence to lead. She said that before she was elected as a lead farmer, she had no confidence to stand in front of people and speak.
“I never knew I could manage the training of others and help them to understand what I share with them. I am happy that my sessions are helping people, especially fellow women, to change their mindset about coffee production,” she explained.
Sharing skills to increase income and improve livelihoods
As a coffee grower and a lead farmer, Rosette was thrilled to take part in the ‘GAP for Climate Resilient Crops’ training because the skills she learned are helping her earn more money. In the training, farmers learned about the value of intercropping and which crops are best combined with coffee to increase climate resilience. For example, which crops are resistant to drought, diseases, and other natural calamities in their community. Bananas are one example: they can provide coffee shade and yield yellow bananas, which can also be used to make a type of local beer.
In 2021, Rosette decided to pursue this concept and planted 87 banana trees, which she began harvesting in 2022.
In total, she brews 3 jerricans of local beer per month, a total of 36 jerricans per year. She sells each jerrican at US $12. “I make a total profit of $34 every month from my local beer business, after investing back into the business (mainly on buying water and sorghum and paying for labor), thus earning an annual profit of $408,” Rosette said.
The $408 Rosette earns from local beer sales is enough to cover labor costs for her coffee and cassava plantations. Additionally, she earns $300 to $400 annually from coffee and $300 from cassava, totaling about $1,058 per year – slightly above Rwanda’s average annual income of $1,040 (NISR, 2023).
Rosette is also a member of a Village Saving Loan Association (VSLA) established by Kahawatu Foundation in her village to cultivate a culture of saving among farmers and to facilitate access to loans. She contributes $6 as monthly savings.
By December 2022, Rosette had saved $80, of which she managed to add on $15 to meet her business plan budget target of $95. Her business plan included buying a pig, because pigs are more productive and provide satisfying returns, and growing cassava to supplement her income from coffee.
Rosette bought a pig for $40 and spent $55 on cassava seedlings, fertilizer, and land preparation. In September 2023, she harvested cassava and made $350. Unfortunately, the pig she bought became barren, but she sold it for $120 and bought another one (which is now expecting) at a cost of $80.
Thanks to Kahawatu Foundation for their trainings and for supporting me on the journey to Good Agricultural Practices, small business establishment, and money management. I have supported my sons’ education with the help of money I generated from my local beer business and my cassava plantation and my son is graduating from the university in 2024.
Stories of change
