Rwanda Advances Climate-Resilient Coffee Varieties 

Key takeaways

• From trial plot to farmer field. Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) is advancing top-performing varieties — including the specialty coffee Geisha — into Rwanda's formal commercial trial and release process, based on nearly a decade of performance data from a global variety trial. 
• An aging tree crisis meets a ready solution. 39% of Rwanda's coffee trees are more than 30 years old, and most farms still grow traditional varieties vulnerable to coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease. The new varieties were selected specifically for resilience under these pressures.
• Record exports raise the stakes. Rwanda's coffee exports hit $148.6 million in 2025 — a record high — and directly support 350,000 smallholder farming households. 

The Rwandan government is moving to introduce several coffee varieties tested through a global, collaborative variety performance trial run by World Coffee Research and a global network of partner institutions. Five varieties are being introduced into the country, including the celebrated specialty variety Geisha, through Rwanda's formal commercial trial and release process. The move marks a milestone in a decade-long partnership between RAB and WCR, moving climate-resilient, market-responsive coffee varieties one step closer to Rwandan farmer fields. 

“The introduction of the new varieties comes at a critical time for Rwanda's coffee sector. This is the payoff of years of rigorous trial work: coffee trees suited to Rwanda's changing climate and to the quality our farmers are already known for,” said Simon Martin Mvuyekure, a Senior Coffee Breeding Research Fellow at RAB. “RAB is excited to bring climate-resilient, market-responsive coffee varieties to the hands of Rwandan farmers.”

Coffee is a cornerstone of Rwanda's rural economy, and its importance is growing. In 2025, the country's coffee exports reached a record $148.6 million, up 65% from the previous year, according to Rwanda's National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB). An estimated 350,000 smallholder farming households depend on coffee for their livelihoods. Yet 39% of Rwanda's coffee trees are more than 30 years old, and most farms still grow traditional varieties increasingly vulnerable to the climate crisis, coffee leaf rust (CLR), and coffee berry disease (CBD). Without better-adapted varieties reaching farmers at scale, Rwanda risks losing ground in the same specialty market that has made its coffee famous worldwide. Improved varieties are critical for reaching export targets set in the government's National Strategy for Transformation (NST2)—32,000 tons of exports and $192 million in revenue by 2029.

A decade of collaborative research

Since 2015, WCR and RAB have partnered on breeding, variety performance trials, and germplasm collection. Rwanda has hosted WCR’s International Multilocation Variety Trial (IMLVT) at three sites—Huye, Rubona, and Ngoma—since 2018. The IMLVT is  the world's largest arabica variety performance trial, a collaborative scientific  effort that tests how coffee varieties perform under different climates around the world, including the higher temperatures and more variable rainfall that mirror conditions Rwandan farmers are increasingly facing. It is funded by over 200 coffee companies worldwide via World Coffee Research. 

Rwanda’s IMLVT trials have generated eight years of data on yield, disease resistance, and cup quality for high-performing varieties sourced from breeding programs around the world. Rwandan coffee scientists have been evaluating the plants and the trial data, on the lookout for varieties that are promising for Rwanda’s current and future climate. 

“This is what a decade of shared, rigorous science is for — not research for its own sake, but new varieties reaching real farmers, at scale, in time to matter,” said Dr. Jennifer “Vern” Long, CEO of World Coffee Research. “Rwanda is beloved by coffee buyers and consumers worldwide; bringing these varieties from IMLVT trials into commercial release pathways expands options not only for farmers, but also for the export markets that place a high value on Rwandan coffee.”  

From research plots to Rwandan farms

Among the varieties now advancing toward commercial release is Geisha, one of the most celebrated coffee varieties in the world. Originally from Ethiopia and made famous in Panama, Geisha is prized for its floral, jasmine-like cup profile and consistently commands premium prices in the specialty market.

RAB is also advancing four additional varieties selected for high productivity, strong resistance to rust, and adaptability to Rwanda's changing climate; these varieties produced more than twice as much coffee as older varieties in trials. Together, the aim is to give Rwandan farmers a broader set of tools to manage both climate risk and market demand.  Today, the most common varieties grown in Rwanda are Bourbon and Typica, traditional varieties that are prized for their cup quality but that are extremely vulnerable to diseases like CLR and CBD, exposing farmers to crop loss.  

Toward RAB's formal variety release

These varieties are now entering commercial trials as part of RAB's formal variety release procedure — the process Rwanda uses to confirm a new variety's performance before it can be recommended and distributed to farmers nationally. It is the same process that produced RAB C15, a rust- and CBD-resistant variety RAB released in 2015.

What's next

RAB expects to complete its formal release procedure over the coming growing seasons, after which approved varieties will become available for wider distribution to Rwandan coffee farmers. The anticipated release of new-to-Rwanda varieties is only the tip of the iceberg; RAB is also an active partner in WCR’s global arabica and robusta breeding networks, working to breed and test the next generation of high performing varieties for the country’s farmers.