ARKANSAS – In the past year, Westrock Coffee based in Little Rock has purchased coffee fairly from roughly 80,000 small coffee farms around the globe. Additionally, they have offered farmers in Rwanda and Tanzania opportunities to receive training and support to improve the quality of their coffee. With traditional methods, a coffee farmer in East Africa can only produce half a pound of coffee per tree each harvest. Since its inception, Westrock has been committed to helping farmers increase their yields and has consistently paid farmers a fair price for their coffee.
It all began when Westrock saw the farmers of Rwanda suffering from some of the lowest coffee yields in Africa. In response, Westrock created an Agribusiness Training Program to improve the quality of their farmers’ coffee and more importantly, their lives.
The Agribusiness Training Program teaches farmers good agricultural practices that are environmentally and socially sustainable while making sure their farmers are treated with honesty and fairness. Westrock has provided loans in excess of $16,000,000 to over 120 farmer groups and washing stations. The support is often invested in bringing a clean water source to their communities. In turn, the partnerships change the lives of countless people in farming villages.
Christine began her work in coffee after she married into a coffee-farming family. Together, they had 400 coffee trees. Unfortunately, when she was pregnant with her ninth child, Christine’s husband passed away. Christine was left with a heavy burden to provide for her large family on her own. It was incredibly hard work, but was necessary for the survival of her family.
Christine worked with her older children to plant more coffee trees and soon became a partner of a Westrock-owned coffee processing station in Rwanda. Christine is proud to spend the money she earns from her coffee on school fees and putting food on the table. She is also now able to reinvest in her farm with the goal of providing a fruitful future for generations to come.
About Westrock Coffee
An international company based in Arkansas, Westrock Coffee’s strength is their people. The coffee roasting and packaging facility is located in Arkansas, their trading desks are in Europe, and origin export facilities are in Rwanda and Tanzania.
Westrock is committed to creating great coffee from crop to cup. Westrock works with smallholder farmers around the globe to create some of the finest coffees in the world. By operating at each level of the coffee supply chain, Westrock offers complete transparency to consumers and fair, honest trade to their farmer partners. In turn, the partnerships impact the farmers, their families and their entire communities.
Learn more at WestrockCoffee.com
