This week Rwanda is hosting 2021 annual meetings of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO), which will take place for three days from 16th to 18th November 2021 at Kigali Convention Centre. They include the 14th African Coffee Research Network (ACRN) bi-annual meetings, the 9th African Coffee Symposium, and the 61st IACO Annual General Assembly.

Hosted in rotation among its twenty-five member states, the annual forums of IACO bring together delegates from the member states, officials from IACO, researchers, businesses operating in the coffee sector, and policymakers among other participants in order to emphasize the impact of coffee in the socio-economic transformation of the wellbeing of African coffee farmers. Speakers on behalf of member states use this platform to discuss and find different solutions to the important issues that African coffee producers face.

Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources who is also the current chairperson of IACO, Dr. Gerardine Mukeshimana, said that Africa coffee-producing countries must ensure the transformation of the coffee industry from subsistence to a modern one.

“Our countries need to adopt new coffee policies that will ensure the sustainability of the coffee sector in Africa. This requires increasing production, improved quality, local processing, and consumption of coffee in Africa. To achieve this, we aim at ‘strengthening the coffee value chain for sustainable development of the economy and improve living incomes of African producers’ – which is the theme for this conference,” she said.

Hon. Dr. Gerardine Mukeshimana, Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources who is also the current chairperson of IACO.

About 300 delegates who are expected at the meetings, including representatives of renowned coffee companies participating in the forums, will have an opportunity to taste the Rwandan Specialty Coffee, undertake field visits, and tour the city of Kigali.

IACO was created in December 1960 by 11 Heads of State of 11 African coffee producing countries in Antananarivo, to show the overriding role of coffee in the socio-economic development of Africa. Today, IACO is comprised of the following 25 African coffee producing countries: Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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Jean Pierre Mazimpaka