BURUNDI | Kibingo | Bourbon | Honey

Origin

• 🇧🇮 Burundi

Tasting notes

Character

• Sweet
  25

At PMC, we love coffees from Burundi. This small and often overlooked country doesn't have the production power of its East African neighbors, but coffee is tied into the fabric of everyday life. Coffee production in Burundi is fueled by over 600,000 smallholdersSmallholderA farmer growing coffee on a small family plot — often under two hectares. Most of the world's coffee is grown this way, typically pooled at cooperatives or washing stations., and their income usually supports the entire family. To put that into perspective, the whole population of Burundi is just under 11 million people , meaning smallholder producers and their families make up almost 50% of Burundi's entire population. We first visited Burundi back in 201 9 , when our Green Buyers connected with Greenco – a company that manages Central Washing Stations (CWS) throughout the Kayanza region. Greenco works with young agronomy graduates to provide farmer training and manage their washing stations. In Burundi, the national youth unemployment rate is almost 50% - by working specifically with young graduates, Greenco are helping make lasting socio-economic change, as well as utilizing a tech-savvy workforce, to simplify the flow of information between Greenco and their washing stations. Kibingo CWS serves 1 , 739 coffee growers spread out over the surrounding hills. Producers registered at the washing stationWashing stationA central mill where many smallholder farmers deliver cherry for processing. In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda the station name (e.g. Idido) often identifies the coffee. are organized into groups of 30 people, headed by a farm leader. This leader acts as a spokes person to facilitate communication and organization with the CWS . The CWS participates in several farmer outreach and support projects including a livestock rearing project, and a range of Farmer Hub projects centered on strengthening cooperatives and improving yields.