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Coffee Archive 31.10.23

Rugembe Hill

Writer

James Wilkins

 

Coffee farming and production began in Burundi in the early 1900s under Belgian colonial rule, where farmers were forced to grow coffee, the produce was bought and processed by the state and coffee was exported primarily to Europe. The sector was privatized in the 1960s, followed by state control from 1976 to 1991, and then a new wave of privatization began in 1991.


Burundi is among the smallest coffee-producing countries in East Africa, with a population of 10.5 million that is endowed with ideal conditions for coffee production: elevations of 1500 - 2000 m, Arabica Bourbon coffee trees, abundant rainfall, and approximately 800,000 families who cultivate an average of 150-200 coffee trees per farm. Arabica coffee now represents virtually 100% of Burundi’s national production and the bourbon variety grown at high elevations in Burundi is characteristically “sweet with bright acidity, big body, floral, citrus and spiced with wild notes.” Over the past 25 years, coffee production in Burundi has averaged 26,700 tons per year.

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