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April 2008: OCIBU (OFFICE DU CAFÉ DU BURUNDI) – COFFEE BOARD OF BURUNDI

• Type of coffee produced: Arabica
• Volume (in metric tonnes): 31,000 in 2006
• Brand name of Burundi specialty coffee: Ngoma mild coffee
• Marketing system: Tender and direct sale
• Processing: Wet processing
• Washing stations (Sogestal) - 7: Kayanza; Kirundo – Muyinga; Ngozi; Kirimiro; Mumirwa; Sonicoff; Coprotra
• Harvest season: February – June
• Port of shipment: Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
• Export destinations: Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Japan, Australia and the United States

Burundi is a small and beautiful landlocked country at the crossroads of East and Central Africa, straddling the crest of the Nile – Congo watershed. Sandwiched between Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania, Burundi has a magnificent view over L. Tanganyika, which provides much of its western border.
This is a country dominated by hills and mountains, with considerable altitude variation. The lowest point in the country is 772 meters near L. Tanganyika while the highest soars to 2,670 metres above sea level at the tip of Mount Heha.

Coffee is Burundi’s primary agricultural resource as well as the largest source of export revenues (more than 80% of the total export revenues). The first Arabica coffee tree in Burundi was introduced by the Belgians in the early 1930s and has been growing in the country ever since.

Coffee cultivation is an entirely small holder based activity with over 800,000 families directly involved in coffee farming on 60,000 hectares and about 25 millions of coffee tree.

Most farmers practice mixed farming, where coffee trees are intercropped with subsistence crops such as bananas, beans, soya, cassava and others. Flowering takes place around September, which is considered as the start of the rain season. Harvesting runs from February to July with a peak production from May to June.

Burundi coffee falls into mild Arabica category and is known as among the best ones grown in the Eastern African region because its quality is inherent to the hills and mountains where it is cultivated at altitudes ranging from 1,250 and 2,000 meters above sea level. Most farmers have about 50 - 250 coffee trees. Burundi coffee is of the Arabica species though some Robusta production exists. Of the total production, Arabica coffee represents 96% and the most successful variety grown to date is Bourbon.

Two processing methods are used. These are the wet processing for fully washed and dry for semi washed coffees. The wet method operates with ecological technology that requires a minimum fermentation process thus leaving natural coffee attributes intact. The coffee is then thoroughly rinsed to remove the mucus and dried out under the sun. The semi washed method on the other hand uses manual hand pulpers. Over 138 coffee washing stations are scattered all over the country.

Coffee produced for both methods is called “parchment”. When the parchment reaches the required moisture content, it is transported to mills for additional processing such as hulling, bean selection by size, weight and density separation and finally laboratory analysis, quality control and classification into grades. This step is very important and is carried out by well trained liquorers from OCIBU.

OCIBU has two main laboratories. One is located in the capital Bujumbura and the other in Gitega, the second biggest city of the country with a number of private mills also in existence. Each laboratory has the main role of supervising and controlling coffee quality from harvesting, processing, transportation, roasting, and delivery up to the buyer.

Since 1998, Burundi has been producing specialty coffee under the brand name of Ngoma Mild to respond to the specialty market requirements. The name Ngoma refers to the traditional drums in the local Burundi vernacular. The Ngoma and the famous drummers represent the power of Burundi kings.

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