Since the post-genocide deregulation of the coffee industry, entrepreneurship is now flourishing, international trade volume is increasing, human capital is developing, income and employment are
Long Rwanda’s leading export and chief source of foreign income, coffee has played a pivotal role in the nation’s economic development. Even today it accounts for 50 percent of Rwanda’s export income and employs some 500,000 families. Historically this industry has been highly regulated and politicized, but in the decade since Rwanda’s disastrous genocide, the government has promoted coffee industry liberalization as a means of alleviating the country’s poverty and addressing fiscal crises. The results have been promising: entrepreneurship is flourishing, international trade volume is increasing, human capital is developing, income and employment are increasing, and most surprisingly, grass-roots reconciliation is taking place.
Citation (Chicago-Style)
Boudreaux, Karol & Sacks, Daniel, Perking Up The Economy: Coffee in Rwanda. Mercatus On Policy No. 6. Arlington, VA: Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2007.