Coffee in Burundi: Story Behind
By Agha Haider Raza
During peak coffee harvest season, Juste Picasso takes a bus for the two-and-a-half-hour journey from his home in Burundi’s capital to Kayanza. He then sits on a motorbike from Kayanza to reach his washing station in the countryside town of Muruta. Despite the mind-numbing repetition of driving and riding all those kilometers, Picasso enjoys the turns of the road as he gets to see a beautiful landscape filled with hills, palm trees, coffee trees, tea plantations and a protected forest. He just hopes it doesn’t rain, as it gets difficult to find a motorbike taxi to get to Muruta.
Picasso, a graduate of the University of Burundi, entered the coffee industry in 2014. He started as a washing station manager and then was promoted to quality control, sifting through cherries, ensuring only ripe beans are cleared. Picasso worked alongside two of his friends at the washing station and they soon realized there was a business opportunity of planting and growing coffee trees while facilitating the sustainable development of farmers around washing stations.
In 2017, the trio of friends registered their company, Burundi Seed Specialty, with Picasso serving as the company’s managing director. Today, Burundi Seed Specialty processes coffee beans harvested by approximately 950 farmers.
Picasso believes in the positive role his business plays in the coffee farming community. “If you see how many farmers get paid because of coffee and send their kids to school and pay health bills, as well as do different projects, this touches me much. It’s more than coffee beans, it’s part of the life.”
Coffee bean processing is a very delicate business and requires meticulous supervision. The process includes floating coffee cherries in water to start the fermentation process, allowing each layer of the cherry to naturally peel away and then drying until a particular range of moisture is reached inside the bean. All of this takes place at a so-called washing station.
A few years ago, washing stations in Burundi were primarily administered by ‘Sogestals’. ‘Sogestals’ were management boards, comprising of private owners and government representatives which looked after operations of washing stations. The industry was further controlled by the Burundi Coffee Regulatory Agency, locally known as ARFIC.
In a press conference on January 29th, 2020, minister of the environment, agriculture and livestock, Déo Guide Rurema, announced the introduction of ODECA (Office for the Development of Coffee in Burundi), bringing the majority of washing stations under the control of the government. ARFIC and the Sogestal networks were to be replaced by ODECA, with the intent to improve lives of coffee farmers by ensuring timely payments, managing operations of washing stations and overseeing sale of coffee beans.
William Ndayitwayeko is a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Burundi. “The government is struggling, is struggling to give a beautiful face to our coffee sector” said Ndayitwayeko, due to the intricate nature of operating, marketing and exporting Burundian coffee. Ndayitwayeko sees the government’s role not as a player in the market, but as an investor by providing farmers with agricultural input and funds for the construction of washing stations and factories to grow the industry.
Gilbert Niyongabo echoes a similar sentiment as Ndayitwayeko. Niyongabo is a former dean of economics at the University of Burundi. He sees the involvement of ODECA in the coffee sector as a huge problem. “I think that the government should leave the market free, so that anyone who wants to invest in the coffee sector can do it, especially at the local level” said Niyongabo. Niyongabo wants ODECA to be a regulator, protecting farmers from exploitation, rather than a buyer and seller of coffee.
Having worked within Burundi’s coffee industry for over 7 years, Lauren Rosenberg rejects the idea that ODECA exists for the purpose of facilitating things for the coffee farmer. “No. I don’t. ODECA is meant to be the regulator. Now they’re also a player. That’s just to set up for disaster. The same organization, that is meant to be approving your export papers, is also running washing stations, you can’t be the umpire and the player in the game at the same time, you just can’t,” said Rosenberg who holds a PhD in sustainable development from the University of Stellenbosch.
Poor coffee yields and limited funds make it challenging for the sustainability of washing stations and the industry. “The first problem encountered by coffee washing stations is that their installed capacity is no longer reached due to a lack of sufficient production. The second problem is that washing stations are often confronted with financing difficulties,” said Tharcissse Niyungeko, a resident of Bujumbura who has been working in the coffee sector for nearly three decades.
Despite the issues facing the sector, Niyungeko said it is too early to see the impact of ODECA. He believes the new system must be in place for at least 4 to 5 years before its performance can be fully assessed.
Ben Carson has lived in Burundi for over a decade and owns several washing stations across the country. In order to sell coffee beans internationally, Carson said that as an exporter, he now requires 22 signatures and stamps, on multiple documents, from nine different offices around the capital city, to export any coffee due to ODECA.
Carson however does give credit to the government for finding ways to look after the farmer. “The good news is that ODECA has raised the base price of coffee cherries for the farmer. So, there’s a tangible benefit that ODECA has come in right away and raised prices for the farmer.”
Milda Nordbø, a doctoral student in human geography at the University of Oslo in Norway, said she was astonished at the plight of coffee farmers during her time working in Burundi. According to Nordbø, the average farmer owns 60 coffee trees, which can produce approximately 48 kilograms of coffee cherries. Last season, 1 kilogram of cherries was sold at 700 BIF (Burundian Francs). At today’s exchange rate, the average farmer earns $16.35 per harvest, or $1.37 per month.
Nordbø does not believe ODECA will improve the lives of farmers. “The government is interested in more cash. The rules they put in place to make sure that they got more, was intense. That made farmers lives so much more difficult, like I do not buy the narrative that it’s for the farmers sake.”
Even with the introduction of ODECA, the Burundian government is still struggling to grab the attention of international buyers. Taylor Mork works in coffee sourcing for the company ‘Crop to Cup’. Since 2009, the company has been importing coffee from Burundi to distribute across North America. Mork, who works directly with ODECA has found the process extremely cumbersome.
“It’s all kind of centralized into a big bureaucratic system. You can’t even really talk to anybody there unless you have somebody on the ground walking into his office. It’s a lot more difficult for me to deal with, without people actually on the ground, able to walk into some office and grease the wheels,” said Mork.
Despite the problems of ODECA, those whose businesses are impacted by the authority, seem to be hopeful of the regulatory body. However, the real effect will be seen if the lives of farmers are improved. Members of the coffee industry do not mind waiting it out to fully assess the role of ODECA. With a high yield of coffee expected this season, ODECA has an opportunity to demonstrate its competence.
By "Agha Haider Raza"
