Of the 1074 smallholders farmers delivering to Nemba Washing Station, most have fewer than 250 trees, and harvesting is done almost entirely by the family. During the harvest season, all coffee is selectively hand-picked before being delivered by growers either directly to the station or to one of the 12 collection sites located throughout the growing areas.
After delivery to the station, all cherry is floated in small buckets before the higher quality cherry is sorted again by hand to remove all damaged, underripe and overripe cherries. After pulping, the coffee is dry fermented for up to 12 hours and then soaked in clean water for 24 hours. Parchment is then soaked for an additional 18 hours before being dried on raised beds for three weeks.
Meticulous quality control throughout the production chain is managed by Greenco, a company which oversees and structures washing stations throughout the Kayanza province. Quality assurance begins as soon as farmers deliver their cherry and continues right through until after milling when the coffee is hand sorted using UV lighting as a final check for defects. Thanks to the importance that Greenco places on environmental stewardship, all stations are equipped with solar panels as well as water treatment facilities to purify waste water from processing before flowing back into the river network. Additionally, all the cherry pulp waste that is generated during the processing of the coffee is converted into organic fertiliser which is given to farmers at the end of each season.
