An Akawa Project News update - July 2021

As the biggest coffee producing country in the World wakes up wondering what the effects of the recent frost will have, one of the smallest producing countries in the world is preparing itself to export it's very meagre 2021 crop and hoping that such a low production level will not repeat itself in the years to come.

Burundi has just experienced one of it's lowest crops in recent history with a mere 100'000 bags of 60 kilos produced. This is at least 65% lower than last year's crop, depriving farmers and all coffee value chain actors from much needed income.

Such swings in Burundi, year on year, are explained by the average age of it's coffee trees, mostly old and prone to low yields. This reinstates the need for better support to the farming community by distributing healthy productive trees to ensure a future to coffee farming in Burundi. In this edition of our News brief we will take you through what has happened on the ground in the second Quarter of 2021.

The second Quarter of 2021 has been all about the produce itself ! With the harvest being smaller this year washing stations have waited and waited for the peak of the crop to come yet it never showed itself. Deliveries were scattered through time and albeit a good quality of cherry being delivered volumes were sometimes too small for operators to start their machines.

Thankfully the fact that the Akawa Project washing stations also produce Specialty coffee allowed to process all cherries received and this regardless of low quantities per day.

It is the first station located outside the Mumirwa Province in which Akawa has historically been operating. It's presence brings our Project to the border of Rwanda in the North East of Burundi ! The station is currently taking it's first steps towards UTZ certification which means it's transitioning into Akawa Project is underway and soon it will benefit from Farmer trainings.

Located on a hill overlooking the shores of Lake Rwihinda this station was built from the ground up by our implementing partner, Succam, in order to provide access to market for the local coffee farmers who until this arrival were relying on mobile buying from stations located far away. This meant they had no permanent presence to whom not only they could sell their cherries but also to have a contact point throughout the year and be able build a trust relationship with. 

Mobile units would often take advantage of this by underpaying farmers and requiring very low quality standards in order to fill their trucks. This was detrimental to both the communities in Kiyonza and the quality of their coffee.

The launch of a modern Washing Station in Kiyonza means the farmers will now be able to deliver ripe cherries at a natural pace and will be offered agricultural advises from the Project staff.

The environment in which the farmers live and grow their crops is simply one straight out of a Nat Geo documentary. With Lake Rwihinda at their feet they have abundant supply of fish for feeding and Papyrus to weave baskets and floor mats. A small island on the Lake, named Akagwa Island (a match made in heaven for our Akawa project's name), allows migrating birds from Europe to shelter and regain strength between December and April when they set on their journey back to warmer skies.

Back to coffee.. with less rainfall and more sun exposure than other stations Kiyonza is the place to produce Natural coffee. The station produced 50 bags in it's trial year which turned out to show bright acidity ! In the 2021 very challenging season Burundi went going through the station has produced 150 bags by sourcing from 453 farmers.

Unexpected bureaucracy has slowed down the start of this vital component to our project but we are happy to report that authorisations to identify water sources and lead water works have been granted for all sub-regions where the Project intends to secure water sources in partnership with the Dutch NGO, ZOA. Our local partner's help in obtaining these was key and we may now look at starting the topography studies with these authorisations in hand. Prior to leading topography studies we still need to identify the water sources which will benefit from ZOA's expertise and be protected. This has started in the course of July so we will be telling you more about it in our next Quarterly !