Burundi FW Mutambu

This is a fully washed coffee from 2000 smallholder farmers in Mutambu county, in the region of Mumirwa, eastern Burundi.

THE PRODUCERS

This lot is made up of coffee from 2000 smallholder farmers in Mutambu county. These farmers typically cultivate an average of 30 coffee trees of the Bourbon variety. Farms range between 1750 and 1850 masl in altitude and farmers deliver their ripe cherries to the central Migoti washing station for processing.

George was born the same year that Burundi gained independence from Belgium - 1961. George was only fifteen and single when he first started growing coffee. He’s a third generation coffee farmer and uses some of his profit to purchase more organic fertilizer for his trees. When asked about his favorite food, he said, “cassava!” It’s plentiful in the hills of Burundi and a local staple.

Migoti Coffee has a vision to economically transform the Mutambu community, and quality coffee production is just one of the entrepreneurial projects planned. They have built a spring-fed water supply for the community, piping water from miles away in the highest mountains of Burundi to the community and to their central washing station. They are also actively developing a small hydropower plant to provide low-cost renewable energy to the local community and to the washing station. 

THE ART OF PRODUCTION

Farmers deliver their ripe coffee cherries to Migoti washing station, owned and managed by Pontien Ntunzwenimana. The cherries are handpicked and floated to select only the densest, high quality cherries, after which they are de-pulped and then dry fermented for an average of 12 hours. After fermentation the coffee is washed in clean water grading channels and then dried in the sun on raised African beds for 2-3 weeks.

THE REGION

Pontien Ntunzwenimana is the owner of the Migoti Washing Station in Mutambu, Burundi and is a trained civil engineer. He was born and lived through his childhood in Mutambu. Prior to 2015, the multi-generational coffee farmers in Pontien’s home community had all but abandoned coffee as a source of income due to the 12-year civil war (1993-2005) when their Arabica coffee trees were neglected and destroyed.

Another challenge was the great distance between their small farms and washing stations, which led many farmers to home-process lower quality coffee on their farms, gaining unsustainably low prices for their product. With peace in the country and a state-of-the-art coffee washing station that Pontien built in 2016, the local community has new-found hope for the future, and farmers are excited to invest in their coffee farms. Pontien’s three years of green coffee production in Mutambu (2016-2019) have proved the local coffee to be some of the best in Burundi. Pontien continues to work with local farmers to improve quality and quantity in order to build a brighter future for their families and the next generation.