Educating the next generation of farmers
In order to guide and encourage a new generation of specialty coffee farmers, Rwamatamu have come up with the plans for a Youth Cooperative. The Youth Cooperative will be for 18 - 35 year olds interested in learning environmentally sustainable and economically profitable coffee farming practices.
Training, income, and first hand experience
Rwamatamu's Youth Cooperative will give its members hands-on training from established agronomists as the group cultivate a communal lot of coffee trees. The profits made after harvest will also be distributed back to the young farmers as an added financial incentive.
Funding this project will go towards supplies such as coffee trees, shade trees, plants for intercropping, fertiliser, organic pesticides, and the leasing of farmland to the cooperative.
Price Breakdown
3 Hectares of land
$6,000
Yearly labour costs*
$540
Seedlings
$75
Fertiliser
$45
Microbes
$15
Mulching
$15
Molasses
$5
Intercrops
$5
Total Cost
$6,700
*While the Youth Cooperative will be handling crop care and harvest, additional labour will be needed to help with the more physically intense tasks like tilling and planting.
