BURUNDI ​GAKENKE NATURAL

General Information

Origin: Burundi
Region: Kayanza
Commune: Gatara
Washing Station: Gakenke
Cultivars: 100% Red Bourbon
Altitude: 1672 masl
Process: Natural
Harvest: April - June 2019
Grade: NAT15+
Warehouse: Barcelona, Budapest & Santiago
Packaging: 60 Kg w/ GrainPro
Score: 87
Notes: Strawberry, winey, cloves, cacao
Ikawa profile: http://bit.ly/2M3uMa7
Preparation: Both, Espresso and filter

TRACEABILITY

Gakenke is a coffee station in Gatara Commune, Kayanza Province of Burundi. Farmers grow mostly older bourbon types, the original coffee cultivar introduced to the area in the 1930s by Catholic monks traveling from the island of Reunion. Gakenke sits at 1,672 meters above sea level, and many of the farmers have coffee planted much higher than this.

Gakenke is named after a plant that grows wild in the area with thin, hollow stems that are commonly used to drink the locally made banana beer. 

​Gakenke pulls clean water from the Rivubo river that runs alongside the station site. During the harvest season 1,900 local coffee farmers from 22 neighboring villages sell their coffee to Gakenke, where it is processed as fully washed and naturally in whole cherry.

HISTORY OF COFFEE IN BURUNDI

Coffee arrived in Burundi during the 1930s with the Belgian colonial government. The Belgian government, which oversaw and administered the twin territory of Rwanda-Urundi between 1922 and 1962, made coffee cultivation mandatory during this period. When the Belgian government withdrew, many coffee growers stopped caring for their trees because it was no longer mandatory. However, many also saw the economic advantages of continuing to grow coffee, and the industry became the center of Burundi's national economy.

The coffee industry in Burundi remained managed by the public sector until the beginning of the 21st century, when the local government privatized some elements of the coffee production chain, such as dry mills and washing stations. As a result of this relatively recent change in conjunction with the country's political instability, today, there are very few foreign companies involved in the coffee sector in Burundi.

Currently, the coffee industry in Burundi is driven by about 2 million small coffee farmers who produce more than 80% of the country's total coffee export. To put this number in perspective, consider that the total population of Burundi is only slightly less than 11 million people, so these small coffee farmers represent almost a fifth of the total population.

All coffee trees in Burundi are Arabica. Although it was tried to introduce Robusta with the establishment of a large plantation. "Fortunately," this plantation was destroyed during a civil war and riots at the end of the last century.​

CULTIVATION

Almost all coffee in Burundi are of Bourbon variety, which is strictly controlled by the government for quality reasons. Due to the increasingly small size of coffee farms, aged coffee trees are a very important problem in Burundi. Many coffee growers have coffee trees with more than 50 years, but with small land to cultivate, it is difficult to justify that they are completely out production during the 3-4 years that it will take new plantations to start producing.

Despite the ubiquity of coffee cultivation in Burundi, low productivity is a predominant tendency. The small producer on average has approximately 300 trees, usually in their backyards. Each tree produces 1.5 kilos of cherry, so the producer sells around 400-500 kilos of cherry per harvest, and this generates an annual salary of no more than USD 100 (See the video below for more information about it).​

BURUNDI COFFEE FARMERS SALARY​

GAKENKE CWS LOCATION

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