The Northern Province in Rwanda is one of five that were created in 2006 as part of a government decentralization program designed to restructure administration locally. Containing an abundancy of interlocking undulate slopes and mountains, coffee here is frequently grown heavily intercropped on small farms and gardens hewn from the hillsides. Satellite technology is used to monitor leaf glare from the trees -any changes can be a sign of disease or infestation and early detection pays dividends when it comes to clean cups and good green.
In 2012, 38 of the 252 hectares were planted with Bourbon Mayaguez 139 seedlings, 2,000-2,500 in each hectare. This totalled nearly half a million new trees, and access to nurseries and supply of new trees continues. The cultivar itself most likely originated from the island of Reunion (where the original Bourbon mutation was first noted and named), together with Jackson that is also widely found in Rwanda, another Bourbon mutation. The third commonly found cultivar, Bourbon Mayaguez 71, could have come from Ethiopia, introduced via the Congo. Though there are now some new varietals being introduced to the country through such programs as World Coffee Research, the country still has Bourbon as the main cultivar.