Burundi

Harvest season: April - July

Coffee-producing regions: There are five coffee-growing regions defined by the location of the five SOGESTALs:

Main varieties: Bourbon, French Mission, Jackson, Mibirzi

Port of export: Mombasa, Kenya, or Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania 

Bag size: 60kg

Capital: Gitega

Spoken languages: Kirundi and French  

Local currency: Burundian franc

Altitude, Rainfall and Varieties Make for a Great Cup

Burundi is one of East Africa’s smallest countries, bordering Tanzania, Rwanda and the DRC, with a large portion of its Western coast flanked by Lake Tanganyika. At 772 masl, the lake’s border is the country's lowest altitude point, with peaks going as high as 2670 masl. 

High altitudes, abundant rainfall between October and April, and a predominance of the Bourbon variety are some of the reasons why Burundi’s coffee tastes so good. Loved for its sweet, jammy and floral profile, Burundian coffee can be brighter than your typical Rwanda and as fruity as a really good Ethiopia. Some also compare Burundian coffees with great Central American beans, like a FW Colombia or Guatemala, but with more acidity and higher cup scores.

Average Prices for Specialty and Commodity Beans

Burundi accounts for less than 1% of global coffee production. In the specialty segment, and according to data from the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide, Burundian coffee is expected to cup at an average of 86 points with FOB prices at around US$6.83/kg, similar to Rwanda and DRC. 

That’s 36% more than the total average price registered by the country in 2022 (US$4.17/kg), which includes exports of lower grades.

It's important to note that, as a landlocked country, FOB prices for Burundi are more heavily influenced by transport costs than most of its neighbours. Roads are also in worse conditions when compared to Rwanda, also landlocked but with much better infrastructure overall.  

The Colonial Past Is Still Present

This is a complex origin to source coffee from - for both historical and political reasons - and that’s why Algrano has waited to get offers from producers we have known for years and in whose work we trust.

On one hand, Burundi has great potential for quality and coffee is an important cash crop for producers, allowing them to send their children to school, improve their housing conditions and access financing. 

But Burundians have a conflicted relationship with coffee arising from the country’s colonial past. Also, decades of financial support from the World Bank, other international development organisations, NGOs, and private companies have not been able to reverse the decline in production and secure better financial outcomes for farmers.

After Burundi’s independence in 1962, the country has struggled to maintain productivity because the population was not interested in growing coffee, a symbol of their colonial past.

Coffee was introduced in Burundi in the 1930s by the Belgian colonial administration, which imposed forced labour and production quotas on local farmers. Producers had to allocate a big part of their plots to coffee production even if that compromised their food security.

Current Challenges for Burundian Coffee Production

Today, there are over 600,000 families involved in coffee production in Burundi, more than 40% of the country’s rural population. Coffee is one of the main exports and sources of foreign currency, therefore highly valued by the government, yet a high proportion of ageing trees and loss of soil fertility bring productivity down. 

Lack of on-farm investment (especially considering fertilisers and pesticides) is such that the country’s volumes can fluctuate from 34,000 tonnes to 6,000 tonnes from one year to another. 

Historically, Burundian farmers have been paid less than their neighbours. Like with Rwanda, cherry prices are regulated by the government through the Office for the Development of Coffee in Burundi (ODECA; previously known as ARFIC and OCIBU before that). 

Whilst a very competitive sector uses NAEB’s price as a minimum price reference in Rwanda, there is little enforcement in Burundi. Technically a floor price, ARFIC’s recommendation tends to become a de facto ceiling price. 

Between Private and Public: a Political Minefield

Adding to the complexity, Burundi has a hybrid (and controversial) public-private coffee sector. There is an inherent conflict of interest in the state’s presence as a regulator and a buyer, involved in the management of the SOGESTALs (Sociétés de Gestion des Stations de Lavage), responsible for nearly 30 washing stations each.  

The level of involvement from the government varied over time. The sector was completely private from 1962 to 1976, then totally public until 1991, and hybrid since. Efforts to privatise the coffee sector were delayed by a civil war between 1993 and 2006 and were referred to as flawed by international observers after that.

In 2009, 13 CWS were awarded to a Swiss group for one million dollars, a sum deemed inadequate considering the European Union investment of 19 million euros to renovate 133 washing stations the previous year.

Producer associations have also criticised the privatisation efforts for the lack of access to farmer ownership of CWS.

Today, private companies working on added-value coffee have a better reputation in Burundi than government-owned CWS. Algrano’s current partner on the ground is Licobu (Lion Coffee Business), a small exporter with washing stations in Muyinga, Ngozi and Kirundo.

Despite all its challenges, there are signals of improvement for the coffee sector in Burundi. Prices have been growing over the years, reaching 1200 Burundian francs per kg of cherry (around US$0.42) in 2023 - from 800 BIF in 2022.