Coffee is a traditional export crop for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In the mid-1990s, the DRC was a significant global producer, producing around 120,000 metric tons a year on a nationalized basis; however, as civil wars raged in the late 90’s, coffee production took a major hit with some of the worst affected regions been in the east of the country.
The Kivu Provinces located in the far east of the country, situated near the equator and the highlands of the volcanic Rwenzori mountain range provide an ideal environment for specialty arabica cultivation with plentiful sunshine and rainfall, high elevations, and rich fertile volcanic soils. The provinces are positioned north and south of Lake Kivu, one of Africa’s Great Lakes which drains into the Congo river that in turn feeds the Congo basin - the second largest rainforest in the world.
To survive the war many farmers would boat across lake Kivu and smuggle their coffee into neighboring Rwanda and or Uganda. This endeavor was risky as farmers would regularly drown with survivors risking theft and further violence, and would often not be able to sell their coffee for its true worth. Through cessation of the civil wars, things improved but life in the DRC remains unsettled with rebel violence occasionally rearing its ugly head. Despite the turbulence, coffee is increasingly seen as a potential saving grace for the region.
As the civil wars dissipated in the mid-2000s, the DRC government along with NGOs, and State development agencies, bolstered by FairTrade and other certified networks launched programs to revitalize the coffee sector. Cooperatives began to be set up and the private sector began offering services to a wide array of producers including but not limited to providing market access, renovation of crops and infrastructure etc. These efforts seem to have partly paid up as coffee production rebounded but is still considerably lower than the levels from the mid-1990s.
Virunga Coffee Company was established in 2011 by Schluter SA (now Olam Specialty Coffee Europe) with the vision to: “Change lives in DRC through commerce in a mutually profitable way by being a major coffee actor in Kivu.” Since then Virunga has invested significantly in agronomy training, field support activities, processing infrastructure and the organic certification of over 2,300 farmers with a further 1,500 to be certified by June 2020. To date, Virunga Coffee has established 7 coffee washing stations in North and South Kivu which has allowed improvements in quality and in turn, higher premiums to be paid to farmers
As well as providing a stable supply chain and specialty market access, Virunga is actively involved in a number of sustainability and social programs in farming communities. These include an extensive tree planting program, disease prevention outreach to tackle critical diseases such as Ebola and HIV, and equipment to help farmers improve their agronomic practices.
This particular coffee is organic certified from its washing station located in the Hutwe village in the Kirumba region of Nord-Kivu (North of Lake Kivu), on the edge of Virunga National Park, bordered by Uganda to the east. The station processes fully washed coffee from local smallholders typically producing on less than an acre of land. Harvested cherries are delivered to its washing station where state-of-the-art processing equipment is utilized to depulp, ferment, wash and dry the coffee before export. As well as providing the infrastructure to process specialty coffee, Virunga also provides logistical support to farmers who need to transport their cherries to the washing station.
