During the last three years, Professor Dan Clay, director of the Institute of International Agriculture, has helped triple the price Rwandans receive for coffee, one of the country's main exports.
Clay's Project PEARL (Partnerships to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages) was launched in 2001
"Coffee has been grown there for generations," Clay said. "We helped them understand and learn the technology and build the market."
The U.S. Agency for International Development, MSU and Texas A&M joined forces to educate faculty from the National University of Rwanda in agricultural processes.
Project PEARL has grown from assisting one community of 300 people to 16 Rwandan communities, totaling 10,000 people.
"It's coming along," Clay said. "People see how it's done, and neighboring communities say, 'Wow, we could do that, that looks easy.'"
The project began in 1998 when Clay, who has worked on programs in Rwanda for years, met Emile Rwamasirabo, rector of Rwandan university. The two began discussing ways to help communities recover from the 1994 genocide.
One of the first and most important steps in Project PEARL was setting up an outreach center at the Rwandan university to assist the community farmers, Clay said.
"The outreach center serves as a node between the university and the community," Clay said. "It really brings them together and focuses the strengths of the university to areas that really need the help."
The main function of Project PEARL has been to bring the Rwandan coffee industry from the bulk market, which usually ends up canned or used for instant coffee, to the specialty market. Specialty market coffee is high-quality coffee served in shops and restaurants.
The increase in quality also brings higher prices for the coffee.
"The price went from 46 cents to about $1.50, which is a big deal for people who earn $1 a day," Clay said.
With such rapid growth in production, Clay said within less than a decade the Rwandan coffee market will be significantly changed.
"What we're looking at is, five to 10 years from now, completely transforming the coffee industry in Rwanda," he said. "There's a high demand for it."
On campus, Sparty's Convenience Stores will be selling the Rwandan coffee as soon as they get it from their vendor, manager Joe Garza said. Sparty's has been selling fair trade coffee since last spring.
"Fair trade guarantees family farmers receive a fair price for top quality products," Garza said. "This ensures they have food on the table and their kids can go to school."
And the coffee already is being sold throughout the world. Angelo Oricchio, chairman of Paramount Coffee, a buyer and distributor in Lansing, said the company already is getting several requests for the Rwandan brew, including calls from Bermuda.
Part of Paramount Coffee's proceeds from the coffee will go to benefit Project PEARL.
"Most of all, it's a great coffee," he said. "We're very excited and delighted."
