Promoting Smallholder Agro-Export Competitiveness (PSAC) Project
The National Agricultural Export Development Board, through the Promoting Smallholder Agro-Export Competitiveness Project, is implementing interventions designed to strengthen Rwanda's high-value agricultural export value chains, including coffee, tea, and horticulture.
Coffee drying is a critical stage in post-harvest handling and directly affects coffee quality, market value, and producers' income. Inadequate drying infrastructure can lead to uneven moisture levels, contamination by dust and foreign materials, mould development, physical losses, and undesirable flavors. These problems can prevent coffee producers from meeting specialty and premium-market quality requirements.
Many coffee-sector operators also rely on wooden drying tables that require regular construction, repair, and replacement. Continued dependence on timber-based drying infrastructure contributes to pressure on forest resources and may not provide a sustainable long-term solution.
To address these challenges, NAEB/PSAC intends to support the establishment of two pilot eco-friendly coffee drying areas. The facilities are expected to incorporate improved drying infrastructure, such as ventilated raised drying beds, protective covers, appropriate drainage, and other features determined through technical site assessment and approved designs.
The intervention is intended to improve coffee quality, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen environmental sustainability, and increase the participation and leadership of women and youth in the coffee value chain.
