In Burundi, we work to secure higher profits for both coffee producers and employees of station staff alike.
As of December 2019, Raw Material processes and exports coffee from Burundi. The construction of a centralised washing station (not seen in all coffee producing countries) serves as a nucleus within a community. This localised position in a community benefits producers by distributing needed agricultural products, supporting the local community through funds, staff, and construction where needed.
RM Burundi works to create wide-reaching community benefits through and beyond the production and sale of coffee.
Welcome celebration for visitors at Izuba Washing Station, Burundi
Breakdown of a typical price paid for coffee from Burundi
Figures are displayed in USD/kg; all values converted to green bean equivalent. Costs and prices vary by region and by cup quality. All data is based on the 2020 harvest, using our mean average FOB price.
Currency assumptions based on rates as of 01/04/2021, USD:BIF 1,944, USD:GBP 0.72.
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Izuba
1500 - 1700 MASL
Kayanza Province, Burundi
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Izuba means “Sun”
The Izuba washing station is set close to a river, providing a vital fresh water source for coffee processing. The station provides premiums where possible to not only the farmers but also to station staff. Once the coffee has been processed, the coffee pulp is turned into a natural fertiliser as it degrades. Once ready, it is distributed to local farmers to add nutrients to their soil.
Drying beds and the main building at Izuba, Burundi
In a similar manner to the way we have worked in Rwanda, Raw Material has relied on the work of local partners in Burundi. These companies are ethically aligned, with the immediate goal of distributing profits more equitably to producers, and paying station staff well above the government set market rate.
Zuberi Matsitsi of Matraco Coffee (Matsitsi Trading Coffee) works with us in precisely this way. Season on season, we are able to provide coffee from his two stations Businde and Nyagishiru to customers around the world. Matraco’s own vision is to:
"Develop the rural world based on the production of specialty coffee, stimulation of agro-pastoral production, promotion of fair trade, natural balance, and protection of the environment”.
At Izuba, we purchase cherries from smallholder producers in the area, then process the cherry into washed, honey, and natural coffees.
Through processing stations, we guarantee the prices paid to producers, and increase the value of the coffee through high attention to detail and quality control. This ensures the highest quality coffee and greatest profitability for producers.
Last year, almost none of the households around Izuba washing station had health insurance. In Burundi this season, we have focussed on ensuring all families delivering cherries to us receive full health insurance. This initiative was revealed as the most effective and desired thing we could do from a long list of possible activities following interviews with the community.
Welcoming celebrations by station staff at Izuba, Burundi
Izuba and Matraco share in ideals for coffee production that are wider-reaching than simply the profits the sale of cherry can provide to producers. Both companies distribute the by-product of coffee processing (coffee pulp) as compost, which given out as a natural fertiliser to the families for their land.
This season, Izuba employees were paid 25% higher than local stations; 33% more than the national average.
Businde
1650 - 1800 MASL
Kayanza Province
Businde’s producers received a premium that was 20% above the local market rate this season.
Businde is a station managed by Matraco Coffee, located in the northern province of Kayanza, close to the Rwandan border. This is a station with a wide reach to local coffee farmers, processing the cherry of up to 650 local farming families. As a washing station, it is important to consider the payment of workers who process the cherry as well as the price received by those who cultivated them.
As a station, Businde pays its staff 60% above the rate for seasonal labour.
To assist with the dispersing of coffee pulp, Matraco distributes this compost as fertiliser to help the farmers nearby. Alongside this, they assist with the yields of local farmers by donating seedlings to their farms. Higher profits accompanied by the potential of more cherry to sell.
Station staff at Businde CWS sorting washed coffees by density in the station’s serpentine channels.
Nyagishiru
1500 - 1650 MASL
Muyinga Province
Muyinga is one of least populated and lesser known coffee producing regions of Burundi
Surrounded by around 7000 trees, Nyagishiru can be found in the Buhinyuza Commune of the Muyinga Province of Burundi. The relatively flat land here makes the perfect conditions for the production of naturally processed coffee at good volumes. Nyagishiru comfortably processes coffee from almost 850 families.
Hand-sorting cherry at Nyagishiru CWS, Burundi
Composted coffee pulp is shared with local producers, and seedlings are distributed to farms to increase their yields. What’s more, Matraco has donated to the building of a school and health care centre for the community. As one of only two stations in the area that process coffee, this station is a vital resource for the region’s coffee farmers and their families.
