Does coffee matter?

Abstract

In the 21st century, coffee is one of the world's most important globally traded commodities. In 2016, it is Rwanda's greatest export crop that involves more than 450,000 small-holder farmers, most who own less than one hectare of land. Dozens of scholarly books and hundreds of articles in the social sciences have been devoted to exploring a variety of themes with coffee as either the focus, or that use coffee, coffee farmers, or coffee production as a case study. Previous studies that use coffee as a lens to explore human development focus on the international political economy of the global coffee trade, but few focus on the geopolitics of the coffee world. This thesis argues that the state is always involved in managing coffee markets, and takes this argument farther to show that such policies impact women at all points of a complex global supply chain. This thesis builds and extends upon literature in political science, international studies, and women's studies, by featuring a gender and development lens largely ignored in literature coffee. The thesis provides an overview of the history of coffee production in Rwanda, the impact of the tragic events of 1993 and 1994 and their impact on the coffee sector, and the economic recovery and renewed development of Rwanda in the 21st century. Two case studies, based on field work and interviews with leaders and members from two coffee cooperatives BufCoffee and Kopakama Cooperative in Rwanda, provide field level support for insights about women and development in the coffee sector.