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- Burundi is a coffee producing country and is counted among 40 largest coffee producing countries in the world. Coffee accounts for nearly 40% of export resources while supporting 8 million people. However, the sector has experienced a steady decline, pushing many farmers out of the sector
Burundi is a coffee producing country and is counted among 40 largest coffee producing countries in the world. Coffee accounts for nearly 40% of export resources while supporting 8 million people. However, the sector has experienced a steady decline, pushing many farmers out of the sector.
Burundi has to compete on the same level as big African coffee producers like Kenya or Ethiopia. The government is now re-engaging in the sector after liberalization did not bring the desired results. Yet, results are failing to show up. However, it is still struggling to get back on track. Coffee output during the 2021-22 season was lackadaisical, when production figures remained low. It dropped from 34,000 to 6,000 tonnes for the 2021-22 growing season.
Several orchards are abandoned to their fate. Coffee farmers choose more profitable food crops. There are too many commission agents in the coffee sector. Coffee farmers would like to be in direct contact with coffee buyers. Layers of intermediaries cut down the money going to the farmers. Middlemen gobble up most of the revenue leaving farmers impoverished.
Several factors are responsible for decline in production. While farmers are clamouring for rejuvenation of the coffee sector, aging trees has become a major challenge. Old trees have to be cut and replenished with newer ones. That cannot be undertaken all of a sudden. Cutting down the trees would affect the yield of the farmers. It should have been taken on a phased manner, wherein the old trees would have been felled and new ones planted in their place in a systematic manner not to affect the total yield of the farmer.
Coffee production nosedived during the 1993 crisis. Now, the green coffee barely reaches 10, 000 tons, while the prices in the international market are steadily firming up. Can Burundians hope to scale up their coffee production to the previous level depends on many factors including the government support and how coffee beans are going to fetch prices in the international market.
