Fair Trade Rwanda

Following the 1994 war and genocide in this east African country, a program was initiated with Michigan State University's Institute of International Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development linking Rwanda's depressed coffee farmers with important coffee industry organizations throughout the world. The result is the development of better farming techniques,the best coffee processing practices, and access to global markets that are bringing hope and success to the devastated farmers of Rwanda.

The Partnership to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkage is accomplishing great things:

• Supporting the growing movement toward socially responsible Fair Trade programs
• Helping farmers organize in cooperatives and pool essential resources
• Creating a vibrant outreach system to share technology and knowledge
• Teaching the painstaking tasks of washing and sorting to seperate higher quality of beans from average beans
• Assisting in marketing and sales to link Rwanda with the global marketplace

Paramount Coffee proudly roasts, packages, and markets One Thousand Hills coffee as part of the PEARL project in a continuing commitment to socially and environmentally responsible business practices.